


Finding Friends in Dark Places

by Anyonesguess



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Annette Birkin is a good mom for once in her life, Anxiety, Baisically just a rewrite of the second half of the game, Coping, F/M, Familial Bonds, Gore, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Re2make, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Stress, Trauma, Violence, and also I think it's cooler if they're together, because the timeline gets funky, failed coping, is it PTSD if it's happening rn?, together au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-13 07:09:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18027098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anyonesguess/pseuds/Anyonesguess
Summary: While searching for Sherry in the sewers, Claire comes across an injured Leon. With the two back together, things seem like they may get a touch easier for the pair as they continue their journey. or perhaps not.Basically, an AU where Claire and Leon are together for the last half of the game.





	1. We Really Must Stop Meeting Like This.

**Author's Note:**

> I finished Claire's B run and was a bit confused to the timeline, so I was like, hey, I can just rewrite it myself. This is my take on kind of how it went down, with a few lil twists for fun.

Claire couldn’t decide if the sewer smelled better or worse than the corpses that had filled the Police department. Honestly, it was probably just as sanitary. She wiped a bead of sweat from her face as she kept running, listening for the all to familiar sounds of the zombies. There didn’t seem to be too many of them in this stretch of the sewer system, so she was thankful for that. If Sherry had come this way, hopefully she hadn’t been in too much danger. 

Up ahead Claire saw a fork in the tunnel, the one side she could see leading to a small service lift. She noted it before deciding to try the other way first, hoping to find supplies. Or Sherry. She was worried about the little girl, especially after running into her mother. A little girl shouldn’t be alone in this mess by herself, and after the ordeal with the police chief, Claire was worried about who else she might run into. She was so caught up in her worry as she turned the corner, she nearly tripped over the body propped against the wall. 

“Ack!” she grunted as she caught herself against the sewers slick walls. 

She looked down at the body. It was a policeman with dingy blond hair, a wound on his shoulder, and a beige trenchcoat laid across his lap. Maybe she could find something useful on him. She couldn’t quite see his face as she leaned down, He kind of looked like… 

“Leon!” She cried, realizing who the body was. 

She knelt down and started to survey his injuries. He was as filthy as she was, minor cuts and small bruises forming on his arms and face. She checked his pulse, his breathing and heartbeat where steady and other than the wound on his shoulder he looked to be relatively fine. He must have just passed out, probably from the pain of what ever had caused the wound. She took a quick look at the hurried bandaging, already soaked through with blood. That would need attention soon, but right now, she needed to get him out of here. 

“Shit” she muttered under her breath. She didn’t know if she could carry him, even just to the lift. She would have to try to wake him up. As gently as she could, she shook his uninjured shoulder. 

“Leon! Hey, Leon! You gotta wake up!” 

No response. A bit desperate, she shoved harder, harder maybe that she should have. He groaned in pain as his eyes fluttered open and Claire signed in relief. 

“Wh-what.” He mumbled, not entirely conscious yet. 

“Leon! It’s Claire, can you stand up? I can’t carry you, but I can help you walk if you need.” 

He blinked a few times, shifting under the trench coat. Claire scooted back as he sat up, grimacing slightly at the wound on his shoulder. He seemed to be more aware of his surroundings, so that was probably a good sign. Whatever had happened it hadn’t taken him out of commission entirely. 

“Claire… I… No I think I can walk, just... just give me a second” 

She nodded in relief. She wouldn’t have to drag him to the elevator, 

“Okay, okay good. That's good.” 

She stood up then offered him a hand, Which he took gladly. He grunted in pain as she pulled him up, be once up he stood steadily on his feet. 

“There’s a lift over this way, we can take it up.”

Leon nodded, and they started towards the lift. 

“I’m so glad to see you.” CLaire sighed in relief, before asking “What are you doing down here?” 

“Me too, I’m really glad you're alright, and I was about to ask you the same thing” he replied

“I found a little girl, we were trying to find her mom and well it’s a long story but we wound up down here. We need to find her, something was chasing us and it knocked out the elevator we were in.” Claire looked forward, her brow furrowing. “I really hope she’s okay.” 

“A monster? The guy in the trenchcoat or the one with the eyeballs?” 

“You ran into them too?” 

Leon nodded, “Which one was it?”

“Well, both originally. Eyeballs threw us down the elevator shaft. And, uh, I don’t think the trenchcoat fucker is going to be much of a problem anymore” 

“Wait, you killed it? How?” 

“Well, no I didn’t, our friend Eyeballs did” 

“Wow. How nice of him” Leon scoffed

The reached the lift and claire hit the button. The lift slowly began it’s ascension. 

“What about you? What happened to your shoulder?” 

“There’s an FBI agent who’s been… I sort of ended up helping her with her investigation into Umbrella. She says they’re the ones behind the outbreak. We caught up with one of the perps, a scientist for Umbrella and she... shot me. I guess Ada, er, the FBI agent went on ahead.” 

Claire frowned at that. She didn’t like the idea of this person leaving him behind, but she guessed she could understand the reasoning.

“Well, hopefully we’ll find her too.” 

The lift reached its destination and the two got stepped off, carefully glancing down the hall. Claire could hear the groans and shuffling of zombies up ahead. She could feel her heart rate hasten at the sound. If Sherry had come this way... Leon seemed to notice her fear, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

“Hey, we’ll find her. I promise. It’s going to be okay” 

Claire swallowed and nodded, but could see the uncertainty in his own eyes. He wasn’t much older than she was, and while he had had more training than she had, he looked just as terrified as she felt. Claire took a deep breath and nodded again,

“Okay. Let’s go” 

\---------------------------------------------

 

“Why’s there a cable car down here?”

Claire looked at the car in confusion, loose wires sending sparks through the air over head. It seemed such an odd thing to have in a sewer. Leon glanced at it as he started up the ladder in front of them. 

 

“Ada said that Umbrella has a lab down here. My guess is that it heads down there.” 

“Do you think we could get out of the city through there?” 

Leon pulled himself up to the top of the ladder and shrugged as Claire finished climbing. 

“Dunno. I think Ada was planning to head down there anyway to find evidence. I would assume there would be a way out then if that was her plan.” 

Claire took one last look at the cable car before turning to the door at their side. 

The room opened into an control room for the treatment facility. Great glass windows at a slight incline overlooking a water way taking up a majority of the outer area, with cat walks along the walls and an adjustable walkway in the middle. In the room they stood in, a few servers and filing cabinets, and in front of the windows a large control panel. Claire walked up to the panel, looking over the buttons. 

“Hey, Leon, check to see if you can find any supplies and a way down there, I’m gonna try to lower the walkway so we can get across. It looks like it might lead to that cable car.” 

“Got it.” He called in response. 

After a few moments of fiddling, she managed to find the proper sequence of buttons and the walkway made its way down. 

“Hell yeah!” It was small, but even a little success was enough to feel happy about in the current situation. 

Claire turned to Leon, who was standing by the corner of the room. He smiled. 

“Oh good! I found a way down there by the way, there’s another service lift here. it’s stuck, but we should be able to just climb down.” 

Claire walked over to where he was standing and looked down the shaft. Sparks were shooting from where the bent metal had interrupted the lift. It didn’t look particularly safe but it would work for a one way trip at least. Hopefully it would hold long enough for both of them to climb down. 

“You think our Eyeball-y friend did this?” Claire asked as she surveyed the damage. 

“It definitely looks like his handiwork” Leon retorted. 

Leon held out his hand to help Claire down into the shaft, a dopey grin as he bowed slightly. 

“Ladies first,” 

Claire took his hand, giving a mock curtsey. “How chivalrous” She then jumped down into the tunnel. The lift held her weight, but definitely didn’t seem like it wanted too. She could feel it shifting under her weight. She called up to Leon, 

“Hey, be careful, I don’t know how long this is going to hold!” 

“Claire?” a small voice called from below. 

“Sherry?” Claire called back, her voice strained with both worry and relief. “Sherry! One minute, I’ll be right down!” She turned back upwards, “Leon! Sherry’s down here!” 

“Okay! I’ll come down once you’re off the lift!” 

“Got it!” 

Claire climbed down as quickly as she could without causing the lift to move any more. She dropped down into yet another control room, this one overlooking what looked like a garbage room of some sort. Sherry was standing at the window, but quickly darted over to Claire. Claire Opened her arms in preparation for Sherry, immediately hugged her tightly. She was so relieved to see Sherry, and that she seemed to be okay. She pulled back and started checking her over, just to be sure. 

“Sherry! Oh my god, are you okay? What happened, where did you go?” 

“I tried to wake you up, I really did, but you wouldn’t, and I heard someone coming and I tried to hide, but, but Claire, there’s something in -” 

Behind them came a loud crunch of metal, then a louder “Shit!” and finally the sound of something large and heavy crashing to the hard floor. 

“Holy shit!”

Claire started, grabbing hold of Sherry and pulled her tight. For a moment, she was afraid the eyeball thing was back. She turned, tensing as she expecting to see it towering over them, but only found Leon lying on the remains of the service lift. He groaned as sparks flew around him. 

 

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Claire let go of Sherry and ran over to Leon, 

He didn’t respond at first instead only raising a thumbs up as he weazed, the impact knocking the breath out of him. 

She reached down to help him up, “I told you to be careful”

He coughed a few times before grabbing her hand and standing up, 

“Guess it couldn’t hold my weight” he said breathlessly, leaning against a wall to try to regain his composure

“Gotta lay off the donuts, buddy” Claire said as she lightly tapped his stomach. 

He rolled his eyes, “Oh shut up” He coughed out. 

Claire turned back to Sherry, who had taken a few steps back, here eyes widening with fear. 

“A- a policeman?”

Claire looked at Leon, then back at Sherry, realizing where her fear came from. She slowly walked towards sherry, kneeling down to talk to her. 

“No! I mean, Yes, Leon’s a policeman, but he’s not going to hurt you, he’s my friend. He won’t hurt you I promise.” 

She leaned close to Sherry and whispered to her 

“And if he tried, I wouldn’t let him. I’d beat him up” 

Sherry giggled at that, “You promise?” 

Claire nodded, “I promise. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.” 

Leon had recovered enough from his fall and walked towards the pair, hand up in a slight wave.

“Hi, Sherry, I’m Leon. It’s nice to meet you.” 

“Nice to meet you too.” She replied, still a bit unsure. 

Leon turned to Claire, a more serious expression on his face. 

“Alright, so now we just have to find Ada and figure out how to get on the cable car.”

Sherry perked up. 

“Oh! Claire! I was going to tell you, there’s a lady in room with all the trash down there!” 

Leon’s head snapped to look at Sherry. “What?” 

Sherry pointed towards the window overlooking the garbage room. 

“There’s a lady down there, in a red dress. I saw her fall down there a little bit ago” 

Leon rushed to the window and looked down, Claire joined him and peered through the murky glass. Sure enough, a woman in a bright red cocktail dress was lying in a heap on one of the garbage piles. It was too far away to see properly, but she seemed to be alive, if somewhat beat up. 

“Ada!” Leon yelled, pounding on the glass to see if he could rouse her. She didn’t respond. He turned around, his eyes wide. 

“We have to get her out of there!” He said, his voice verging on panicked. 

“Hey, hey, we will, don’t worry.” Claire gently touched his arm, trying to ground him. 

She gestured towards the other side of the room, 

“There’s a door over there, I think we can open it and get to her from there.” 

Leon nodded, calming somewhat, his breath still a touch shakey, Claire suspected equally from the fall and from seeing Ada down there. 

“Okay. okay. Yeah.” He mumbled, his expression still lost in thought and worry.

Claire thought it best to start moving hoping jumping into action would help him. She grabbed Sherry’s hand and started to lead her towards the door. Leon stood still for a moment, eyes still on Ada's limp form in the pit, before following them.


	2. Daddy Issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was having so much fun writing this I ended up finishing it really early this morning lol. Luckily it's spring break so I can spend a lot more time writing than normal. Probably updates will come a bit slower after this because of school however, but I REALLY enjoyed writing this part! I hope you guys do too!!

Leon wondered if there was an award for shititest first day of work. He was pretty sure he should win it. Go to work, get attacked by zombies, meet a cute girl, get split up in city full of zombies, co workers are zombies, meet another cute girl, get shot… he could go on. He sighed as he followed Claire and Sherry, glad he didn’t have to go on some random fetch quest to open this door. He was getting tired of those. 

He really was worried about Ada though. He was a bit attached, even after only knowing her for a few hours, but he felt that was understandable. It was easy to get attached to anyone who could talk and didn’t try to bite you. And after what had happened to Marvin and the guy in the holding cell, Ben... he just didn’t want that to happen again. 

Claire and Sherry had gotten farther ahead of him, so he picked up his pace to a slight jog. The movement jarred his shoulder, making him wince with each step. It didn’t take too long to catch up to them however as they had actually stopped. He slowed to standing in front of the closed door they were looking at. 

“Damn, no power.” Claire cursed, a frown twisting her face. 

Leon moved closer to inspect the door as well, but stopped when he saw Sherry eyeing him warily from behind Claire. He wasn’t sure what her problem was, but to be fair, it was probably hard to trust anyone in this situation. Even a Policeman. Well, a sort of policeman. Either way, he wanted to give her some space. He hoped she would warm up to him. He was pretty good with kids. 

Back to the problem at hand, he glanced down at the ground, trying to look for any markings to show where the power supply came from. After a bit of looking, he noticed a faint yellow trail went from the door to another room. He nudged Claire with his elbow and pointed to it. 

“Maybe it leads to the power supply.” 

Claire nodded and followed Leon towards the door. Luckily it was unlocked and they headed in. It was a large, surprisingly empty room, just a few shelves and barrels in an otherwise featureless room. There was a closed metal shutter on one side and in the corner a power supply control. Leon made a beeline for it, determined to get Ada out of that dump as soon as possible. He fiddled with the switches until he heard a generator spark to life. He clapped his hands together, pleased that it had been this easy. Nothing had been thus far. 

“Alright! It worked! Let’s go get Ada.” 

He turned and headed for the door where Claire and Sherry had stayed. The two smiled, Sherry even giving a thumbs up. 

“Hopefully it’ll be smooth sailing from here” He said with a smile. 

The universe disliked Leon’s optimism. 

Metal scraped metal as a huge clawed hand shot through the ceiling. Sherry screamed as Claire grabbed her out of the way. The claw shook almost like a cat with it’s claw stuck in fabric as it tried to pull free of the debris. Once it had freed itself, Leon could hear it above them, moving fast, faster than it should have been able too. He couldn’t quite pinpoint where it was. It came down again, this time next to him. It’s claws scraped a barrel, sparks flying and fluid leaking. Whatever was in the barrel was flammable, and the room was soon ablaze. Sherry screamed again as the claw came down near her. Claire pushed her out of the way as it tried to grab Sherry, like some sort of twisted claw game. Leon pulled out his shotgun, but the thing was so fast he wasn’t sure he could shoot it in time.

The fire was growing and smoke started to fill the room. Leon could feel his lungs rejecting the air, his breathing becoming pained. They needed to get out, fast, but the flames had blocked the exit to the door. He ran to the shutters, trying desperately to pry them open. 

“Claire! Help me!” He yelled, 

He heard her coughing, but couldn’t see through the smoke. Suddenly she was beside him, fingers taking grasp of whatever they could. He groaned with the effort, and could hear Claire making pained noises from the strain as well. The air was mostly smoke now, and all three of them were coughing hard. Leon was having a hard time thinking, but he slowly realized, the claw hadn’t come down in quite a while. 

The shutter door crashed open, throwing Leon and Claire back. He smashed into one of the few shelves that weren’t yet on fire. He couldn’t see where Claire had landed, but he did see Sherry. She was right in front of the thing, all claws and eyes and flesh. He couldn’t see her face, but she was stiff, frozen in fear. 

He struggled to get to his feet, coughing as his lungs protested. 

“Sherry!” He screamed horsley, “Run!”

She started screaming and backing away. It grabbed her in it’s massive claw, lifting her up in the air. He watched her struggle, screaming in fear and pain as it brought her closer to it. To Leon’s horror, he watched as a tendril of flesh opened up an orifice of some kind, and started pouring fluid onto her. She screamed again, gurgling as some of it went into her mouth. Leon snapped out of his horror induced paralysis and barreled towards it, Shotgun trained on it’s disgusting, bulging eye. He shot a blast, then another, then another, until the creature howled, dropping Sherry. She fell, limp to the ground. 

“Claire! Claire! Where are you?” Leon yelled 

“I’m here,” He heard her call somewhere in the smoke 

“Grab Sherry and run! I’ll hold it off!” 

“Okay!” 

He felt, more than saw, her move through the smoke, hearing her cough as she grabbed Sherry out from under the beast. He reloaded his shot gun and fired a few more shots, hoping that if he couldn’t kill it at least he could get it to run or collapse. After a few more shots, it seemed to take a knee, collapsing and shuddering in pain. 

Leon took his chance and ran through the open shutter, following Claire. He could see her up ahead. She ran through a doorway and he followed, slamming it shut and locking it. He knew it wouldn’t stop that thing but he hoped maybe it would give them some time. He leaned against the door and tried to catch his breath again, his lungs aching from the smoke. Claire was kneeling on the ground, Sherry in her lap, making small pained whimpers with each breath. 

“Is she- okay?” he asked between huffs of breath. 

Claire didn’t say anything, just shaking her head. Her whole body was shaking. When he got closer, he could see why. 

Sherry’s left eye was starting to mutate, just like the creature behind them. 

“Shit. Shit!” Leon yelped. He spun on his heel, pulling his hand through his hair while he tried to think. He had no idea how to fix that. Could they even fix that? 

“Sherry, Sherry, it’s going to... we’re going to… We’re right here, okay?” Leon heard Claire say softly, trying to find something to say, to reassure Sherry as much as herself. 

He took a shuddering breath, trying to stop the onset panic. God, could things slow down for a mew minutes? 

“Okay, We need to keep going. We can rescue Ada and then, maybe in that lab they’ll have something that can fix it. I… We, we got this, we’re going to make it.” His voice cracked as he said it, and as much as he wanted to blame it on the smoke, all of this was getting to him. It wasn’t something he knew how to deal with. He didn’t think anyone did. 

Claire nodded, standing up. She lifted Sherry up, holding her close. 

\----------------------------------------------

They made their way back to the garbage room, the creature seeming to have lost interest for now. The walk back was solemn and silent, save Sherry’s whimpers of pain as the virus ravaged her body. The infection in her eye had already spread, ever so slightly farther down her face and her eye had turned a nasty shade or orange, just like that monster. When they reached the door, Leon pulled the lever, his fingers trembling. He tried to take a few deep breaths, but it didn’t seem to help. This was very, very bad. 

When the door opened, he saw Ada stir and a little bit of hope allowed itself to blossom. He rushed over to her, while Claire instead head back to the control room with Sherry. 

“Ada! Are you okay?” 

He surveyed her for injuries, cringing slightly at the sight of her leg. A large slice of jagged metal was sticking out of her thigh. 

“Oh, shit.” 

“Ah, fuck.” she swore under her breath. He watched her feel the injury with her fingers. “You’ll have to pull it out”

“Are… are you sure? I really don’t think that's a good idea.”

She gave him a frustrated look, 

“I can’t walk like this, You have too.” 

Leon still hesitated a moment, first aid had been a requirement at the academy, and Leon definitely remembered that removing a foreign object was a very bad plan. But they really did need to get moving, and with Sherry they way she was, he wasn’t sure carrying 2 people was going to be a good plan. Not that Ada would let him carry her, if he had learned anything about her.

“I.. Okay. If- If you're sure.”

He gripped the metal carefully, hesitating for a moment, then pulled as hard as he could. 

\----------------------------------------

Claire’s breaths were shaky and quick. She could feel tears welling in her eyes. She had promised, she had promised nothing bad would happen. But here they were. She had failed and Sherry was either dying or turning into one of those things. She couldn’t even think of what to say, to the little girl dying or worse in her lap. She just held her tight, rocking ever so slightly. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” She whispered into sherry’s hair. 

“Sherry?!” The loudspeaker crackled to life, starling Claire. She looked up, seeing a camera and a speaker in the corner of the room. 

“Sherry, baby, Mommy’s here. Oh my god, oh god.” 

“Annette?” Claire called out, voice cracking.

“Mommy…?” Sherry whispered weakly between whimpers. 

“That's right, I’m here, I love you, baby. Oh God, William… What have you done.” 

“Annette, She’s-”

“I know, she’s… She’s infected with G…. I… When was it? How long?”

Claire swallowed, her throat dry from the smoke and running and… this. 

“A few minutes ago, I think”

“Okay. Okay. There could still be time. Bring her to the lab, she has an id bracelet, it should get you to the Lab by the Cable car. I… I have something that might help her.” 

Claire perked up

“You might?” 

“Yes i.. I might. Sherry,I know, I know it hurts. Sherry, sweetie, I’m so, so sorry. I’m going to fix it okay? I… I have to go, but bring her here. Please” 

The loudspeaker shut off. 

Claire sat silently for a moment, then let out a small cry of relief. She didn’t know if she really believed Annette, she had seemed so cold and uncaring when she had spoken earlier. But maybe, just maybe they could really fix this. She had to hold on to that idea. 

She held Sherry close again. “Okay, okay did you hear that? Your mom is gonna help okay? You just have to hold on until then, we… She shouldn’t be too far.” 

Claire heard Leon and the woman, Ada, coming up the stairs. She stood up slowly, lifting Sherry up with a huff of effort. Ada was limping, A bandage already blood soaked on her thigh. Leon didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, he looked like he wanted desperately to help Ada as she limped into the room. She looked to Claire like the kind of person who didn’t know how to let go of her pride and accept help. Claire was not a fan of those kinds of people. 

Ada gave Claire and Sherry a once over, “Ada Wong, FBI. What happened to her?” She asked, nodding towards Sherry. 

“She… She’s infected” 

Ada’s eyes narrowed. “Then what are you waiting for, we need to neutralize her” Ada was already reaching for her gun. 

Claire’s heart started racing and her eyes widened. No, no this can’t be happening. Leon stepped in front of Ada, his hands up to try to stop her, as Claire stammered out

“Wait! Her, her mom, Annette, She’s one of the scientists, she just called over the loudspeaker and said that… “ 

Every fiber of her being told her not to say it, that this isn’t something Ada should know. But seeing Ada’s hand still on her gun made Claire’s mind up for her. She didn’t really have a choice. 

“She said that she could save her.”

Leon’s back stiffened at the name. He started to turn, but Ada held a hand up to him. Claire did not like that. 

“She said that? That she could save her?” 

Claire nodded gritting her teeth. She did not trust this woman. But she was worried Leon did a bit too much. 

Ada pulled her hand away from her gun and straightened her back as she prepared to speak. She obviously wanted to exude authority. 

“Alright. A potential cure could help with my investigation. Lets go” She started limping towards the door and Leon followed close behind. Claire wanted to stop him, to tell him her fears about Ada. But she didn’t want to do it in front of Sherry, or worse, have Ada overhear. She would just have to play along until they got to the lab. Hopefully they could lose her when they get there. She took a quick look down at Sherry in her arms, sighed, then started walking, eyes narrowing as she followed Leon, and the woman who very clearly had him on a leash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts! I had a lot of fun writing this lol!  
> AU where Annette Birkin is a good mother for once in her life. 
> 
> And also Claire and Leon react to things like normal people, I'm having a bit of fun playing with this dynamic.


	3. Your Friends are My Friends.... Except That One.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I should space out my uploads like a NORMAL person  
> Also Me: *Uploads 3 chapters in one day*
> 
> ajsfsfjdsf I'm really glad you guys are enjoying this, like, I am having so much fun writing this omg. I was like, oh I'll slow down but no, This is just too much fun lol and I spent a lot of today writing this chapter when I Should have been working on, you know, my commissioned work. Whoops!! For real though, I do work for part of the weekend and then go back to school next week, so I might slow down a bit after that, but also writing this is addictivly fun. I'm a professional writer and I have written this faster than like, my actual professional writing <3

“You can lean on my shoulder.” 

Ada glared at Leon, her limp turning into a more harsh shuffle as they walked across the lowered cat walk. 

“No, that would just make me feel worse.” 

He sighed, glancing back towards Claire and Sherry. He thought about offering to carry Sherry, but felt like Claire would probably refuse his help too. He sighed, deciding instead to ready Matilda incase they ran into anything on the short walk to the cable car. At least then he would have something to do with his hands as opposed to just awkwardly holding them at his side. 

Ada and Leon reached the cable car first, Claire lagging behind a bit with Sherry’s weight. Ada had somehow gotten ahold of one of the id chips, and the doors opened up as soon as they stepped up to it. Ada shuffled in and Leon followed, Looking back to make sure Claire and Sherry were still coming. He wanted to wait for them or go offer to help but Ada grabbed his arm and dragged him in to the cable car. 

“Leon, what exactly is Sherry infected with? Because that does not look like the T-virus.” 

He shook his head, “It’s not, it’s… you remember the big guy with the eyeballs from earlier?” 

She nodded, “So it’s the G virus then. We still need the sample, but if there’s an anti-viral agent for the G virus that’s incredibly important intel. I’ll need samples of both” 

She turned slightly, her hand on her chin as she thought. 

“I want to stop the bastards that did this. To the city, to Sherry. I want to help.” 

She turned back towards him, her face softening slightly, 

“Leon, you can’t this is a federal case, you don’t have the clearance.” 

“But-” 

“Sorry, I was a bit slow.” Claire said, as she walked into the car. She set Sherry down on the bench, taking off her jacket and draped it over the young girls shivering frame. 

Sherry was more conscious now, but she also seemed to be in more pain, her whimpers getting louder and more desperate. She sat up and leaned against Claire, putting the jacket on fully. Leon watched Claire wrapped her arm around her protectively. With everyone in the car, he walked over and pulled the lever. The Car began to move, a cheerful voice reminding them not to leave the car until reaching their final destination. Despite the peppy tone the voice took, Leon found it’s choice of words somewhat foreboding. 

“So what's the plan? We need to get the cure for Sherry and… whatever she needs” Claire said nodding towards Ada. 

Leon caught the detest in her voice. He sighed slightly, this was going to be a lot harder if Claire and Ada refused to work together. He understood where she was coming from, Ada was a bit cold and blunt, but, well she had helped him get this far. He was kind of worried that the distrust of Ada would make Claire distrust him by association. 

Ada sat down on the bench across from Sherry and Claire, grimacing slightly as she sat. 

“I need you two to get a sample of both the G-Virus and the anti-viral. There should be enough for my investigation and to help the kid, Sherry was it?” 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Claire’s lips purse as she nodded slowly. 

Then Leon realized what Ada had just said, his brow furrowing in confusion, 

“Wait, but you just said that -” 

“I know what I said” She cut him off, then gestured to her leg. “But look at me, I can’t go out there like this. I’m... I’d be a liability at this point. I can stay back and make sure nothing happens to Sherry while you two find the samples. I need you to help me.” 

Leon felt like something was off. This didn’t seem like the Ada he had spoken to mere moments ago. Ada took off her own id bracelet and handed it to Leon. He hesitated a moment before gingerly taking it. He wanted to say something, but he decided to wait, he didn’t know how much of her investigation she wanted Claire to know about, and he felt like this conversation needed to happen in private. 

Claire piped up her voice seething and her grip on Sherry tightening as she spoke. “No, I’m not leaving Sherry with you.” 

Ada scowled slightly, “Well, You don’t have much of a choice, unless you want to carry her through the whole facility. I might not be able to walk but I can aim, if something attacks us, I can protect her. 

Leon could see the tension building in the air, and tried his best to deescelate. While he could understand Claire’s reservations, and was still concerned about Ada’s sudden change of character, she really did have a point. They were low on options. 

“Okay, we need to calm down. Claire, Ada’s right, it makes sense to have her stay with Sherry. She can protect her” 

Claire’s scowl deepend. “I can stay with Sherry and Ada, and you can get the virus and cure then. I… I’m not leaving Sherry with you.” she glared daggers at Ada, who seemed to reciprocate the feeling. 

Leon’s chest tightened at the thought of making the trip alone. It was selfish, but he didn’t want to go alone. He couldn’t. He needed to convince her that it would be okay. Ada might be a bit aloof, but she had saved him, multiple times. She wouldn’t hurt a kid. 

“Claire, I really think that's the best plan. I need you to come with me, we can have each other’s backs. What if the G virus… thing comes back, or one of us gets injured. I think it would be better to have two teams of two.” 

Claire seemed unconvinced, he knelt down and spoke softer, hoping Ada couldn’t hear. 

“Claire, Please. I know you don’t like Ada-” 

Claire's eyes narrowed at the mention of her name 

“But she’s saved my life several times tonight. I think she can help us. When we get there, I’ll talk to her while you find somewhere for her and Sherry to hide until we find the samples, okay?” 

Leon watched Claire swallow, weighing the options. Eventually she sighed. 

“Okay. Fine.” She leaned over and spoke louder “‘ll go along with the plan. But if you hurt her, I swear to god I’ll -” 

“Now arriving at NEST” The loud speaker announced as the car came to a stop. 

Leon stood up fully, turning to Claire and Sherry, “Okay, you two go ahead and find somewhere for Sherry to rest, I’ll talk to Ada.” 

Claire nodded hesitantly, still unsure. She eyed Ada one more time before scooping Sherry into her arms and exiting the car. 

\-------------------------------------------

Leon and Ada watched them leave, silent for a moment. 

“Claire really doesn’t trust me.” 

“To be fair, you did threaten to shoot Sherry.” 

Ada looked at him incredulously, “You said she was infected, if that was true, then she would have been a danger to us. If you don’t get the samples, she could still be a danger to us.” 

Leon frowning slightly. He agreed it was the best option, for him and Claire to get the samples while the two injured hid and waited for them but something about how the plan came about didn’t sit right with him. 

“Okay, that's something I’m confused about, you said yourself earlier that I didn’t have the authority to help you on this, why did you change your mind?” 

Ada sighed, grabbing his arm and pulling him down to sit next to her on the bench. She looked him in the eye intensely. 

“Look Leon, I don’t think I can do it, I didn’t realize how bad my leg was until now. But I still need those samples for the investigation. If we want to stop this from happening again, I need that evidence. I need you.” 

Leon felt him self bolster at her words, that she needed his help. Maybe it was the people pleaser in him, but he had a hard time holding on to his convictions. He wanted to help, wanted to be needed, to be useful. Hearing her say it was almost addictive. As strong as that feeling was, Leon still couldn’t shake the sensation that something was off, 

“I… I want to help. I really do, but something about this just feels wrong, I-” 

That's when she kissed him. 

His eyes widened and his body tensed. He could feel heat rush to his cheeks. He never knew what to do with his hands, but right now they felt even more out of place, more awkward and weird. He didn’t move or lean into it, he didn’t know what to do, it was just so unexpected. And just like most things about Ada, something about it was off. It wasn’t natural, it felt… Calculated. Of all the things that Ada had done, this was the strangest, the most out of place. He really didn’t know what to make of it. Eventually, after a few moments of silence and tension, Ada pulled away. Leon’s body was still tense, pulled taught at the sudden kiss and the suspicion it had planted in his mind. 

Ada smiled at him, brushing a hand across the worn and dirty kevlar vest. Leon tensed even more as she did so. 

“Leon, please trust me on this. I need you to do this for me, because I can’t. I’ll watch Sherry, and we’ll meet up after. Okay?” 

Leon hesitated again. This was wrong, very wrong, but he could not figure out what her motives were. Was she just trying to get him to do what she needed? Or was there something more behind it? He didn’t know, but he felt like if he waited any longer, she would catch on to his doubt. Finally, he simply replied. 

“Okay” 

\------------------------------------------------

Claire found a small room with a bed and a desk. The bed was blood splattered, but hopefully it would at least be more comfortable for Sherry that the bench in the car, or the ground. Claire set Sherry down, and sat next to her while she waited for Leon. She was still uncomfortable with Ada staying with Sherry. She didn’t trust her, but she was out numbered, and Ada’s plan did make sense. Leon was still injured, she was honestly the healthiest of all of them at this point. But still, her gut told her this was a bad plan. Her gut was normally right. 

Sherry’s strained, small voice broke her out of her thoughts. 

“Why are you doing this?” she choked out between whimpers of pain. Her breathing had become labored on the ride down. 

“Because I care about you. I… I promise, we’re going to make you better okay?” 

Sherry sat up her breathing more ragged as she did so. She leaned against Claire, hugging her with as much strength as she could muster. Claire could feel her throat tighten again. She wanted to stop her pain. She wanted the world for this little girl. 

“You’re jacket’s so warm.” She mumbled, 

Claire smiled. “My brother gave it to me, it’s supposed to be lucky you know. Maybe it’ll be lucky for you, keep you safe while Leon and I find something to help you.” 

“My mom said that she would help me?” Sherry 

Claire nodded, “She did, I. I hope we can find her.” 

Sherry tensed for a moment, crying out in pain. Claire’s heart skipped a beat. Where the fuck were Leon and Ada? What was taking them so long? 

Claire laid Sherry back down, hoping it would help ease the pain somewhat. 

“Hey, I have something of yours.” Claire siad, suddenly remembering the pendent. She pulled it out of her pocket and tried to hand it to Sherry. Sherry shook her head. 

“Can you give it to my mom when you find her? I- I want her to have it,” She said through ragged breaths 

Claire swallowed hard, her throat tightening even more. She wanted to reassure Sherry, that it would be okay. 

“Hey, hey, don’t think like- you- You’re going to be fine, alright? I promise, it’s gonna be okay.” 

Sherry convulsed again, holding her hand to her eye, and grimacing in pain. Claire rubbed her shoulders, trying to comfort her in any way she could. 

“Okay, here, how about this? I’ll hold onto it until I get back okay? We’ll find your mom and the medicine and bring both back to you, okay? How does that sound?” 

Sherry nodded, softly, “Yeah, that- nggh- that sounds good.” She mumbled before another convulsion racked her small body. They needed to get that cure. Soon. 

“Claire?” 

Claire heard Leon calling for her, trying to find where they were. 

“In here!” she called back, 

Leon walked in with Ada limping behind. He had an expression on his face that she couldn’t quite place, somewhere between concern and embarrassment. Ada’s expression however, was smugly satisfied, like a cat that caught it’s mouse. Claire’s lips pursed, trying to suppress another scowl as anger replaced the nerves in her stomach. She felt like she had a good idea of what had taken them so long. 

She turned to Sherry, giving her one more little hug. “We’ll be right back okay? I promise, everything’s going to be fine.” 

She stood abruptly, pointing at Ada. “If you hurt her, I swear to God-” She started, but didn’t finish, unsure what she could say that would actually scare this woman. She felt her face twist in anger as Ada lazily looked at the hand pointing at her. She was unimpressed with the threat. 

“We’ll be fine. You two should go, we don’t have much time.” 

Claire huffed. As much as she didn’t want to leave Sherry behind, she didn’t want to be in the presence of Ada any longer. She turned on her heels, grabbing Leon’s arm as she moved towards the door, prepared to drag him if she had to. He made a startled noise at the probably unexpectedly harsh grip. She normally would have been more gentle, but she was angry. They had things to be doing and she didn’t trust that he was thinking with the right head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Leon, he's so dumb and I love him.
> 
> ALSO quick note, I do not have a beta reader, so I hope there aren't too many typos!!  
> I am both Dyslexic and also a copy editor so uh, yeah those two parts of me are warring as I write this. I'm pretty good at editing my own work, but I always miss a few things. >.< I hope it isn't too distracting!!! If I see any that are really obvious I'll try to go in and edit the previous chapters.


	4. Lights Shine in the Darkest Places

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think you guys have started to pick up on how much I actually detest Ada as a person, lol. 
> 
> Anyway, this one is a lil softer of a chapter, less action more dialouge and character based, hope you guys enjoy it. A brief Respite before the next chapter. It's gonna be a doozie ;)  
> (oh wait, shoot, not that way. Different kind of Doozie! get your head out of the gutter)

Leon expected the arm to grab him as he removed the chip from it’s ID bracelet. His body tensed in preparation, ready for more clawing fingers and gnawing teeth, another face with holes and rot and mold to be far too close to his own. But nothing happened. He just took the chip and popped it in place of the one Ada had given him. He turned to Claire, who’s furious expression as they had made their way to this room seemed to have given way to just a sort of vacant exhaustion. She was staring somewhat blankly at the cubby holes in the wall of the nap room. Leon sighed at the thought. A nap. That sounded really nice. Though honestly at this point, it would probably just be… He was too tired to come up with the word he wanted, but whatever it was it was significantly longer than a nap. He shook his head in hopes it would clear away the fatigue, but it just made his head throb lightly. A new pain in a rather long list of them. He snorted slightly, realizing with tired amusement that the throbbing of his head matched the throb of his shoulder, just at a different intensity. God he was tired, he thought blearily, and judging by Claire’s preoccupation with the wall, she was feeling the same way. 

“Man, a nap sounds great right about now, huh?” he said, trying to lighten the air between them. 

Claire didn’t respond, apparently deeper in thought than he had realized. Or maybe just so tired that she hadn’t heard him. He cleared his throat and held up the chip, Claire stirring somewhat at that. She looked up, her brows furrowing slightly. 

“I’ve, uh, got the chip. The doors into the rest of the lab should open now” he said, 

“Mmmhm” a monotone hum her response. 

Leon tried not to sigh again, he didn’t want to annoy her more. What he wanted was to reassure her that she could trust him, even if she (and honestly maybe even he at this point) didn’t trust Ada. He wasn’t sure what he could say that would accomplish this, aside from airing his own fears, which was probably not a bad idea. Before he could think of how to phrase it, she turned to the door, 

“Come on, then. Let’s go.” 

She walked out of the room leaving Leon behind. After a moment, he followed. 

They were silent as they passed the room Sherry and Ada were holed up in, past the reception desk, and to the large door. As he got close, the door made a slight beep, then a mechanical whir as it recognized the ID and allowed them through. The door opened up into a circular, chasmus room with a deep pit. At the center, a platform with an elevator, and two doors all equidistant across. In front of him was a yet another control panel, he assumed would summon a walkway. The whole room looked to Leon like something out of Star Wars.

Clair leaned against the railing of the platform as Leon held the chip up to the scanner, which emitted another beep of confirmation as a walkway started to stretch out in front of them. 

Leon expected it to be silent as they continued, but to his surprise, Claire spoke. Her voice was surprisingly dark compared to the somewhat peppy tone he was accustomed too. The tone was better suited for her question anyway. 

“You know she’s using you, right?” 

Leon didn’t turn to look at her, instead staring out at the walkway as it finished stretching the expanse. He did, he supposed, though why Ada was doing what she was doing, he didn’t know. And even then, knowing he was being manipulated didn’t necessarily stop it from happening. Everyone always told him that he was too willing to help, too eager to please. All it took was someone who had some semblance of authority telling him what to do and he would just go along with them, jumping at the chance to prove he was worth something, useful. Up until running into Claire, he hadn’t even questioned Ada’s story or her reasons. He was just glad someone was telling him what he should do. 

The walk way finished moving with a slight jolt as it locked into place. Finally he turned back to Claire. 

“Yeah.” 

Claire nodded solemnly.

“Okay. Glad we’re on the same page.” 

She sat up from the railing, and started walking. Leon followed behind. After looking around the entrance of the lab, they had discovered that the virus and the cure where stored in the same location, the west lab. They would need a higher clearance chip to get there, the one they swiped off the body in the nap room only getting them to the East. Hopefully, they would find someone with a higher clearance chip there. 

At the other end of the platform there was yet another scanner to which Leon placed the ID chip. Claire, was looking at something on the ground. 

“What’s that?” he asked as she lifted it up. 

“An audio recorder. It looks like it’s got something on it.”

It in fact had two files, Claire played the first one, which was a recording of some sort of special forces unit as they tried to stop Dr. Birkin. It didn’t really provide much that they didn’t already know from Ada, but it did coraberate her story. This further puzzled Leon. What on earth was she hiding if she had told him that much of the truth?

Claire played the other file. This file’s audio quality wasn’t very good, with some sort of mechanical noise in the background. Who ever was speaking seemed to have been running as well. Leon could only catch a few of the words it said. 

“-----ve deployed the T-03 se ----- rants. They’re--------- inate remaining pol------- ond subj---- retrieve golgatha vi------ proceed with cau-”

The speaker didn’t finish their sentence, instead letting out a startled yell. The audio recorder let out a loud clatter as if it had hit the ground followed with a few seconds of whirring and odd thumps in the background before it cut out entirely. 

Leon’s brow furrowed. He didn’t know exactly what it meant, but he knew he didn’t like it. Claire had a similarly disturbed expression. The platform jolted slightly as the walkway to the east wing locked into place. They both looked up towards the walkway, the doorway to the east wing now far more ominous than it had been a few moments prior. They stood there for a few moments, hesitating before Leon finally spoke up. 

“I- I guess we should go.” 

Claire nodded slowly, her eyes fearful and her body tensed. Leon felt his muscles tense too, and he briefly thought that all the tension in his muscles had just been building through out the night, yet he had never felt it release. He wondered if it ever would.

\---------------------------------------------------------  
Leon’s shoulder was starting to become a more pressing issue. The throbbing had started to become almost unbearable, each step sending a wave of pain as it jolted the muscles and bones. He could have sworn he could feel fragments of bone shifting when he moved it. He felt like that wasn’t a good sign. He had slowed down some as they walked into the east wing, a wave of cold air blasting them from a loose air conditioning pipe. Leon saw Claire shiver slightly, goose bumps forming on his own exposed skin. He felt bad for her, she was only wearing a tank top now that she had lent her jacket to Sherry. Leon wished he still had his leather jacket to lend her, but it was somewhere in the police station. 

The hallway lead to a small lobby with yet another reception desk and several waiting room style couches. Leon eyed them warily, wanting nothing more than to sit for a second and give his body a break. It was incredibly tempting, with the throbbing of his head and shoulder growing stronger each time he took a step, but he knew it would be harder to get back up if he did. He resisted the urge to shake his head too, given how much it had helped last time. He would just have to keep going. Maybe if he was lucky they would find something they could use to make fresh bandages. And maybe, if he was really lucky, they might find some ibuprofen. 

Claire had already started scouting the room for any supplies they could scrounge from the small room, so Leon joined her. He didn’t have much hope, it seemed that the people who had been left here had already scoured the room. He was right too, they didn’t find much, just a bottle of antiseptic and a few bullets for Claire’s handgun, but it was something. 

“It’s a lab, you would think they would have gauze. Or a first aid kit.” Claire muttered in frustration, 

“Someone probably already got to it.” 

Claire frowned slightly, “Maybe we’ll find something in a different room.” She then motioned to his shoulder “We should really redress that in something that isn’t covered in sewage.”

Leon nodded half heartedly. They packed the few suppliers they found and headed to the next room, the door swishing open into a sort of lecture space almost, a podium with a computer sat in one corner of the room and a large window overlooking the greenhouse took up a majority of the wall next to it. Leon gasped slightly when he saw the middle panel. A huge, fleshy flower had a body trapped against the wall. It had been enough force to cause spider web like cracks to emanate from the impact. The body was wearing a yellow hazmat suit. Leon stepped up to get a closer look, a mixture of morbid curiosity and horror driving him forward. 

“Damn” He muttered, “Sucks to be him.”

Claire snorted at the comment, then slowly started giggling, each one harder and louder. The giggles quickly turned into wild, almost uncontrollably howls of laughter, shaking her body until she was bent over, clutching her stomach as she laughed. Leon was startled by the response. His joke, if you could even call it that, was hardly funny enough for a snort, let alone to warrant that much laughter. Maybe she was just that tired. Claire sat down hard, almost falling more than sitting, still trembling with laughter. She eventually lowered her head into her hands as she laughed, her body shaking as she made gasping, desperate breaths, and that's when Leon realized that the hysterical laughter had turned into panicked sobs. 

He moved quickly to where she was sitting, kneeling down beside her and putting his uninjured arm around her shoulder squeezing slightly to try to give her something to focus on other than her panic. 

“Woah, hey, hey, Claire?”

She kept sobbing, her eyes wide and staring shakily at the ground as she her hands clutched at her hair. She tried to speak but it was overcome with more sobbing and harsh breaths. 

“Hey, Claire, I- I’m here, it’s okay. We’re gonna make it through this okay? Just, Just try to breath. Deep breaths. In, and then out, okay?” 

She nodded viciously and he could feel her try to steady her breathing, taking deep ragged breaths. He rubbed her back lighty, trying his best to comfort her. Eventually her breathing was even enough that she could speak, her voice hoarse and wavering, still on the verge of another breakdown. 

“I just wish, I wish Chris were here, he- he would know-” She broke again, sobbing hard. 

Leon sat down next to her fully, pulling her closer to him, gently rubbing her back and trying to think of something reassuring to say. He didn’t know if he should speak or just listen, but she tried to keep talking in between her shudders of breaths and sobs.

“And I promised Shery, that - That nothing would happen, and then- Oh god” 

She leaned into Leon, throwing her arms over his shoulder and clutching him tightly as she buried her face into his chest and continued crying. A blinding flash of pain shot through his shoulder as she gripped him, but he did his best to suppress the hiss of pain that wanted to escape his lips. Right now, he needed to calm her down so she could get back on her feet. He didn’t blame her for it at all, the pain in his shoulder or the panic attack, he wanted to be there for her, to help her. He could deal with a little pain if it meant she could let out some of her own. Stiffly so as not to jar his wound any more, he held her with his good arm, rubbing circles into her back as best he could, muttering hushed reasurances through stilted, pained breaths. Eventually, her breathing returned to a relatively normal pace, and she loosened her grip. This sent yet another jolt of pain through his shoulder and this time he couldn’t stop the strangled yelp that escaped him. 

“Oh, Shit!” Claire exclaimed, “Oh, fuck, your shoulder, I-Shit, I’m so sorry!” 

His eyes were tightly shut as he breathed sharply, hoping the pain would subside. He wanted to reassure her again that is was okay, he would be fine, but all he got out was a sharp “S’fine” through gritted teeth. 

“Shit, can you stand? We can try to find something to help in the next room.”

He shook his head. The pain from his shoulder was dizzying even just sitting, but it was already subsiding slightly, though it had been traded for the pounding in his head getting worse. He sat a few moments and eventually the pain eased to a dull, consistant throb, only slightly stronger than before. He sighed shakily, before looking up at her concerned face, her eyes wide, reddened and still wet. She had streaky tracks on her cheeks where her tears had wiped away grime and blood running down her round face. He wondered how old she was, he hadn’t thought to ask. He was honestly impressed with how well she was handling everything. A single breakdown in all of this, you had to be incredibly strong willed for that. He realized, he mostly just found her impressive in general. 

“I’m okay. Could you help me up?” he eventually said, his voice steadier than he had expected.

“Yeah, of course, God Leon I’m so sorry” 

She held her hand down and he grabbed it, grunting with effort and pain as he pulled himself back up. It took more of her strength than he would have liked, but eventually he was standing, albeit a bit unsteadily, on his own feet. 

“It’s fine, I promise. How about you, do you feel better?” 

She nodded lightly, “Yeah, sorry about that, I just... Y-Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay now.” 

“Okay good." He smiled softly. 

"Because I think I see our ticket to the next wing.” he said, pointing to the window. Leon watched Claire's eyes follow his hand. He was pointing to the body trapped by the plant. On it’s wrist he could see an ID tag with a purple chip, the one they needed to get across to the west chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeet, lets get this! Sorry for any typos!! Hope ya'll enjoyed, let me know thoughts!   
> I'm kind of adjusting my plans as I go, I think I might be just a touch nicer to Ada going forward, who knows.


	5. A Bad Friendship is Hard to Kill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya'll ready for some action?  
> Cause I'm gonna give it to ya,   
> ;)

Claire didn’t know what she had been expecting, but plant zombies had not been it. She took a pot shot with her handgun, popping one of the bulbs, but it didn’t seem to do too much other than stun it for a second. She was glad she had made Leon stay in the relative safety of the lecture room before scouting ahead. He had argued when she had suggested it,

“Claire the point of us both going was to stay together, to work together.”

“Yeah, true, but you’ve been moving slower and if we run into something we have to run away from, I don’t know how well you can do that at the moment. I think it’s better if we know what we’re running into so we can plan ahead. Besides, you can give yourself a little more time to recover. You’re probably going to need it.” 

He looked hurt, emotionally, not just because he was literally injured, by the idea of waiting, as if the idea of sitting and waiting while she made sure nothing would try to eat his slow ass was a personal attack on him as a person. God, men were so fragile. 

He had eventually agreed, and now Claire was very glad, because these would most definitely have torn him apart. She weaved carefully through the room, decimating the two creatures fairly easily after realizing all it took from her was a little dodging and a few good incendiary rounds from her grenade launcher. Soon they were nothing but piles of black ash. She watched the fires die down and wiped the soot off her face, wondering briefly what Chris would think of this. He probably wouldn’t believe her when she told him. If she tells him. If she finds him. She didn’t believe the letter she had found, no way he would have gone to europe without telling her and the wording just did not seem like him. Something was up. 

She heard a swoosh as the door behind her opened up, her first reaction to duck behind the wall and ready her weapon, before realizing it was just Leon. 

“Are you okay? I heard explosions.”

Claire felt a flash of annoyance. How the hell did Ada get him to do whatever she wanted? Claire couldn’t even get him to sit still for 5 minutes. He did have a valid reason to come check on her, though. She swallowed her frustrations with him, instead gesturing to the fires smoldering out. 

“Yeah, ran into these two fella’s. Not too hard to kill, but I might need more grenades.” 

Leon’s eyes widened slightly at the fires, then looked at Claire. She couldn’t place his expression, something like awe almost. She wasn’t sure what to do with that. 

“Okay, well, this room’s clear, let’s go to the next room, since you’re up.” 

She started walking to the door, hearing him follow behind her. He made a rather apparent effort to more faster, which Claire felt a twinge of guilt for. While they did need to be quick, she didn’t want him to hurt himself further by trying to impress her or whatever it was he was doing. Maybe she was being a little hard on him, after all, it was her fault for jaring his shoulder. If she had been a little stronger, held out a little longer, he might have been fine. But she didn’t, she’d fallen apart and look what happened. She felt her lips twist into a slight scowl as she walked through the door. She should have been able to hold it together. 

The room she stepped into was empty of bodies or plants. It was yet another control room, small and crammed to the brim with lab equipment. Another window overlooked the greenhouse, this time from a different angle. A large computer computer screen took up most of one wall, showing a map of the east wing, and a device of some kind with a large button in front of the window. If she had learned anything in her time spent in Racoon City, she would probably be pressing that button sooner or later. She went ahead, tapping the button. The machine whirred to life. She watched the sprinklers in the greenhouse below begin spraying down on the plants. When it finished, a glass and metal vial that had once held the solution popped out. She picked it up, rolling it between her fingers. 

“You think they’ll have something in here to kill that plant so we can get the body down?” 

“If they were making plants that could do that, they’de be stupid not too” Leon pointed up to the screen, to a room on the side of the greenhouse. 

“Looks like thats where they mix the solutions. If they have something, it should be there.” 

Claire looked through the window into the greenhouse, trying to formulate what her plan would be. Leon obviously wasn’t going to stay still long enough for her to get the solution herself, and she could already see some of the creatures she had just killed. She wasn’t sure how many there were, it was hard to tell with all the plants, but she already knew it was more than she had grenades. She wondered if she could distract them long enough for Leon to get to the other lab. But even then, who knew what would be on the other side of those doors, waiting for him, ready to- 

She didn’t let herself finish the thought. 

She chewed her lip, still scheming when he spoke up. 

“Are we going to go?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking. There’s more of the things down there, and I don’t have enough grenades to kill them all.” 

“Did bullets do anything?” 

She nodded, “If you hit it in one of it’s… weird, pusy bulbus things, it would stun it for a bit” 

He nodded. “Got it. I’ll aim for those.” 

He pulled his handgun out and began reloading it before passing her to open the door into the greenhouse. Claire was slightly shocked, remembering suddenly that she was with a trained police officer and not a 12 year old girl. Even injured, Leon could take care of himself. Somewhat. 

She moved behind him, preparing her grenade launcher. If they were quick and quiet, they could probably get past without alerting any of them. 

Unfortunately, one hanging from the ceiling fell right in front of them. It shambled to its feet, twisting and convulsing unnaturally, strange, bone jarring clicks emanating from what passed for a head. It jittered towards them, vines seeming to float in the air as though in fluid. Claire tried to dash in front of Leon, to get between them and shoot it before it could attack, but before she could, he had shot it 3 times, each bullet destroying one of the fleshy sacks on its body. 

The thing shrieked, then clicked as it flopped backwards, bending in an impossibly way. 

“Run!” Leon yelled,

Claire obliged, dashing towards the other lab, Leon following close behind. As they ran, Claire could hear clicks and shrieks as more of the creatures came to life, roused by the sounds of gunfire. They got through the door and were welcomed by nothing but the quiet humm of machinery. 

The room was dark, the power partially out. A few machines were still operational,a faint glow into the room, but other than that there was not much to see with. Claire clicked on her flashlight, waving it over the room. She saw a body in a hazmat suit in the corner, blood soaking the walls behind her. She swallowed and began walking in, looking for anything of use. She took a look at one of the pieces of machinery, a pump of some sort. It had a slot for the glass vial she had in her pocket. She popped it in and the machine beeped, whirring as it prepared for commands. Leon walked up behind her, studying a file he had found. 

“They left instructions for what to do if the plants got out of hand, so they got something right.” 

He continued reading through the file, his face tight in concentration. He nodded as he read, then turned to the machine. 

“Okay, I think I know what we’re supposed do.” 

He pressed a few buttons, and the machine poured chemical mixtures together then pumped them into the container. It dinged again before the large vial popped out of the machine. Leon took it, looking it over.

“Alright, I think it’s good. It says to chill for best results, but it says for best results, so I think we’re fine to skip that?” 

“You think?” 

He shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m not a scientist. Hell, I failed chemistry twice.” 

She blinked incredulously, “How do you fail chemistry a twice?”

“The same way you do it the first time.” 

She waited for him to elaborate on that, but he did not. She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not either, leaving her to wonder how much of it was him playing up his seeming naivete or him just actually being an idiot. Eventually she gave up trying to parse out that mystery, instead preparing her grenade launcher for the short trek back to the pump. 

“Alright, let’s go kill some plants”

\---------------------------------------------------------

Leon had apparently done something right, or at least he’d followed the instructions properly because as soon as they started the little machine and the solution rained down on the greenhouse, the plants began to shrivel. He was actually a little proud of himself. He had never been good at chemistry, even if he hadn’t actually failed chemistry twice like he joked. He had only failed it the once. 

He watched the huge flower shrivel and fall, the body with it. He wanted to go get the id chip quickly, but hesitated a moment, wondering if the herbicide would be toxic to them too. Those guys had probably been wearing hazmat suits for a reason. Ultimately he decided they didn’t have time to lose. Claire had apparently had the same thought, as she was already to the door. They stepped out cautiously, the harsh chemical smell burning his nose slightly. He could hear some of the plant zombies hiss and click as the herbicide started to kill off part of them. 

Nothing attacked them as they reached the body, a welcome respite. The ID chip had fallen out of the bracelet in the collision, so Leon simply picked it up and placed it in the ID bracelet on his wrist. He turned to Claire, holding up his wrist triumphantly. 

“That wasn’t so bad actually,” he said with a slight smile. 

Claire gave a soft smile in return, which quickly turned into an expression of horror as her eyes trailed up to something above his head. He needed to stop saying things like that. He didn’t get a chance to turn before the glass shattered and something very large and very heavy landed on the ground behind him. Claire grabbed his arm and started running, Leon catching a glance of what had broken the window as they ran. The giant blue man in the trench coat. Leon’s heart raced, remembering the thing from before. 

“I thought you said it was dead?!” He yelled as they ran, 

“I thought so too!” 

“Are you sure it was actually dead?” 

“It was torn in half, Leon!”

They continued running. They turned a corner and Leon could see the door, Just a few more steps, he thought as they passed a small intersection. The thing had moved to cut them off, reaching for Claire as she dashed by. 

“Shit” Leon heard Claire scream as a large hand came down towards her, too fast for her to dodge. 

Leon shoved Claire out of the way, heard her hit the ground hard, heard the air leave her body. He felt the hand grab him by the throat, for the second time in the evening. He heard Claire scream, and felt his body be shoved against something. He didn’t know what or where or why in that moment, because all he knew was that his shoulder was on fire, that he couldn’t breathe, that he was being crushed. His vision went white, he couldn’t see, or think, just feel. He screamed, a gasping, choked and mangled sound. It didn’t sound like a scream. It sounded like the gurgle of something dying. He gripped something, anything he could reach, trying to remove the force from his body, trying to breathe to feel anything other than this. He quickly lost strength or feeling or maybe he just stopped having arms because all he felt was numbness. He heard gunshots, desperate yells, words he couldn’t understand, but it soon just faded into white noise. 

\----------------------------------------------------------

Claire watched Leon’s arm slide down to his side and she screamed. She didn’t think, she just dashed forward, pulling out her knife and bringing it down as hard as she could onto the things leg. It didn’t go deep, but it was enough to get it’s attention. It turned to look down at her, letting go of Leon, who hit the ground with a heavy thud and laid there, motionless. She wanted to get to him, to see if he was even breathing, but the thing reached to grab her. She ducked out of the way, running to the side, firing a few shots at it to keep it focused on her. Maybe it would give Leon time to get back up. Because he was going to. He was going to get back up. 

He wasn’t- 

He couldn’t be-

“Leon!” She screamed, her breathing ragged and desperate as she moved, her mouth dry and rough as sandpaper. 

She fired a few more shots, hitting it in the head. It didn't stop. She didn't know what to do. She didn’t know where she could go. She didn’t know how long it would take, how long she could keep this going. He needed to get back up. She needed him to get back up. He was going to get back up. 

“Leon, Please!” She screamed again, her voice breaking with strain and panic. 

She took another shot at the thing as it barrelled towards her

“Leon!”

And another.

“LEON!”

And another.

 

 

 

 

Claire couldn’t think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip. 
> 
> Hope ya'll enjoyed! I had a lot of fun with this chapter! I'll probably write the next chapter tonight and post tomorrow or early this morning given that I am a being with no self control and doesn't know how to build suspense, lol. 
> 
> Let me know thoughts and again, sorry for any typos!! <3


	6. And a Good Friend is Harder to Come By

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who got a fuckin Beta Reader, it was me
> 
> Big thank you to austinendstheword who read this chapter while knowing nothing about RE at all. Hopefully you guys will have a much smoother reading experience!
> 
> She did sugest adding more anal which I politley declined.

_Leon!_

Leon didn’t know who was yelling but he wanted to tell them to stop. His head pounded, his chest and shoulder both hurt, and, his mouth was so dry that it tasted bitter. He must’ve been hungover. He didn’t know what had happened last night but it must have been really bad because he felt like he had been hit by a truck. Maybe he had been. 

_Leon, Please!_

His head felt like it was full of cotton. Did he crash his jeep? Maybe he was in a hospital? That would explain the chemical smell. But it didn’t feel like a hospital. It was cold and hard, and he was lying on his side. He was foggy but that didn’t seem normal for a hospital… his ears were ringing, why was that?

_Leon!_

Who was yelling? Why were they yelling? What did he do? Did he puke on someone? Did he puke on… Whose voice was that? She was…. Claire. Claire….? What did….? Wait, Claire? Claire was yelling his name. He should get up. 

“LEON!” 

Leon blearily opened his eyes and felt them watering slightly as he did. His head still felt odd. He had a hard time thinking. His vision was blurry, and it took a minute before he could see what was happening. He still wasn’t sure what was going on. He could see Claire, running around, shooting her gun at-- the thing in the trench coat. 

Leon tried to get up, crying out sharply as he did, feeling things shifting in his body that should not be able to shift. He needed to get up, he needed to get out of here. He shook with the exertion as he struggled to get to his hands and knees, his vision going black around the edges with each little motion. He had never realized how much moving it took to stand up. He reached his hand up to grab the railing, pulling himself up as much as he could, leaning heavily on it. He was barely standing, and he felt like if he tried fully his legs would give out. He settled on pulling himself along the railing. He could hear Claire’s gun fire, hear her still yelling his name, yelling encouragements but he couldn’t exactly understand them, he was too focused on pulling on the railing. He wasn’t sure if he was going the right direction, but he was going somewhere. And that was probably good. 

He didn’t know how long it was that he was moving like this, but eventually he felt someone gently, but firmly, grab his shoulder. He felt them move his arm over their own and lift him up to standing. 

“I got you, I’ve got you” came Claire’s wavering voice through the ringing “I can take most of it, but I need you to help me okay? I need you to try to walk” 

Being up like this was dizzying, he had no idea what direction they were going. He tried to take a step but his legs did not want to move the way they needed too, shuffling awkwardly as Claire half carried him. 

“Alright, okay that's fine, this is fine.” 

Claire’s voice was panicked as she dragged him. Leon’s body seemed to have run out of pain, or he was just used to it, as he mostly just felt numb and heavy. A thought appeared in his head and he tried to articulate it, his tongue and mouth unsure how to function. 

“Where…?” He croaked out

“I lead him down a ladder and lost him down there. I don’t know how long it’s gonna be, so we gotta try to go okay?” 

As they went, Leon slowly started to become more aware of his own surroundings and his body, able to move his legs at a more normal gait, even able to take a little more of his own weight. They still went slowly, and Leon could feel Claire, anxiously looking over her shoulder towards where he assumed she had lost the thing. He tried to pick up his pace a bit, but unfortunately with his lucidity also came more intense pain, as his body rebelled against everything that had happened. His ribs ached and he felt sharp stabs with each step, his shoulder throbbed furiously, and his throat felt like it had been hit with a baseball bat. He tried his best to push it down to ignore it and try to hurry. It worked, somewhat. By the time they got to the exit from the East Wing, he was able to stand more solidly and carry significantly more of his weight despite the pain. It was still there at the edges of his vision, threatening to encroach if he wasn’t careful. They arrived at the elevator and Claire tried to set him down on the ground but he shook his head. 

“No-- It’ll just be harder to get back up.” he grunted 

Claire looked unsure, glancing towards the ledge as though afraid he would fall over it somehow. Eventually she leaned him up against the wall of the elevator and let go of him, carefully slipping the ID bracelet from his wrist. 

She turned away dashing up the stairs and place the ID up against the scanner, 

He wondered if she had noticed the way the ground was moving, rocking slowly like a boat. He could hear ringing in the distance, getting more distracting and confusing to his already addled head. He was finding it hard to keep his balance, his head starting to throb and feel light and empty again. The ringing started to grow stronger and darkness started dancing at the edge of his vision. He vaguely realized that this was bad, and tried to call for Claire, but the world pitched sideways and the ringing and darkness swallowed him before he could call her name. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

God this was bad, this was bad. Thank God Leon wasn’t dead, but she had no idea what damage had been done to him. Whatever it was it was incredibly not good, and she did not know what to do about it. A bullet wound she could bandage. If Leon was bleeding internally or had ruptured organs or broken ribs, or… whatever else could possibly be wrong, she had no idea how to treat that. He probably had a concussion or something. He was so out of it she wasn’t even sure he knew what was happening. He remembered what the thing was, but… and the thing, she had no idea how long that thing would stay back. Could the walkway go any fucking faster? They just needed the anti-viral and the shit for Ada and then they could get out of here. Somehow. And, Where the fuck was Annette, wasn’t she supposed to meet them here? 

A loud thud came from behind, and Claire jumped, her heart racing. She turned, her hand reaching for her gun on instinct before she saw the source of the sound. 

“Shit, Shitshitshitshit” She ran down the steps to Leon, who was now a lying in a pile on the floor. She saw his eyelids flutter lightly as she knelt beside him, jostling him as she knealt. 

She felt his neck for a pulse but her hands were shaking so much she couldn’t find it. She could feel him breathing though, shallow and ragged like there was something in his lungs. Fuck, fuck, fuck, 

She felt the platform shudder slightly as the walkway locked into place. They needed to move now 

“Leon!” She yelped, shaking him slightly, 

“Leon, we have to go, we’re almost done, I promise, You just, You just have to get back up okay?” 

He made no response, not even in pain. 

“Come on, Leon, Wake up!” 

She heard the door from the east wing open, and could see the thing take thundering steps across the walkway. She could feel the panic start to take over her breathing, and as much as she tried to quell it, desperation overtook her voice, 

“Leon! Leon, Come on, Leon Please!” She shook him hard, and he stirred slightly but didn’t wake. She looked down at him then back up at the thing, part way across the walkway.

“FUCK, Come on, get UP!” She screamed, scrambling to stand herself. She grabbed him under the shoulders and started to pull. His head lolled to the side as she dragged him, and she partially hoped the swift movements would jolt him back awake. 

Someone dashed past her as she dragged Leon. She looked up to see Annette, running to the scanner for the east wing. She typed quickly at the scanner and the platform jolted once again as the east wing walkway detached and began retracting into the wall. The thing stopped, looking out at them before turning back and walking into the lobby. Annette turned sharply, and started walking towards Claire. She looked more disheveled than the last time Claire had seen her, more tired, but still somehow with an air of level headedness that seemed impossible given the circumstances. 

Claire saw Annette glance at Leon and pause, cocking her head slightly. She hummed lightly in a way that told Claire she had not expected to see him. And also that she had seen him before. 

Annette started walking again, kneeling down to grab one of Leon’s arms and pull it over her shoulder to lift him up. 

“Grab the other” She directed Claire. 

Claire did and together they carried him across to the West wing. 

\-----------------------------------------------------

“Can you tell what’s- what’s wrong with him? Is he going to... be able to keep going?” She asked, not letting herself ask if he would live. She didn’t want to hear the alternative. She took another shaky breath to calm herself before taking a sip of the water bottle Annette had given her. 

Annette hurriedly replaced the bandages on Leon’s shoulder, seeming to have not heard Claire’s question. After a second she looked up, startled out of her focus

“Hm? Oh, yes. Well, I shot him, so there’s one injury, and -” 

Claire nearly spit the water out her nose, 

“I’m sorry, you what?” 

“I shot him” Annette deadpanned, not looking up from her work. They were seated in an operating theatre, a literal one with an observation room behind them. They had placed Leon on an table, Claire seated on a chair to the side of the room. It was an odd room unlike any she had seen before or on TV, reminding her of a dentists room, with a myriad of strange equipment hanging above the bed and cabinets behind. She didn’t want to think of what it was used for. 

“Can you elaborate on that, please?” Claire said, exacerbated at how hard it was to get anything out of this woman. 

“I wasn’t aiming for him, he jumped in the way.” 

Claire sighed. That sounded like Leon alright. If she had learned anything about him in the short time she had known him, it was that the man had a hero complex to rival Hercules. Claire suddenly realized who he must have jumped in front of. 

“You tried to shoot Ada.” It wasn’t a question, but Annette nodded, humming an affirmative note. 

“Why?” 

Annette finished wrapping the wound on Leons shoulder and stood, walking towards the other set of doors in the room instead of answering Claire’s question. Claire sat in the silence, annoyance flaring up in her stomach again as she sipped the water. Could she just answer the goddamn question? Was that so fucking hard? She was appreciative of the water however, she couldn’t remember the last thing she had had to drink. 

Annette returned, a small pile of things in her hands. She set them down on tray next to the operating table and began sorting them out. She took a small jar of fluid and a syringe and handed them to Claire. 

“This is the antiviral. I have something else I need to take care of but- After that I should be able to meet you and my daughter. If I can’t, I’ll need you to inject her with this. It will stop the virus.” 

Next she grabbed a bottle of pills and handed them to Claire as well as another bottle of water. 

“You, take one of those, he should take two, maybe three. It’s not a long term solution, but it should keep him alive and functional long enough to escape. The crash will be hard however, try to make sure he’s in a hospital before that happens.” 

 

Claire took the bottle of pills, eyeing it 

“What is it?” 

Annette started working on something else, fiddling with a device that looked like a small flare gun. 

“An experimental drug, meant to keep a soldier alive and active until they can reach medical treatment. I wouldn’t normally recommend its use at this stage in development, but these are hardly normal circumstances.” 

She started walking back to the other room, but turned, pointing to the water bottle. 

“Make sure you drink all of the water” she pointed to Leon, “And he does the same” 

She continued into the other room, and Claire heard her speaking muffled by the walls, 

“And to answer your earlier question, I don’t know the full extent of his injuries, thus why I said possibly three.” 

She returned again with a bottle and syringe similar to the one she had given Claire for Sherry. Annette filled the syringe with the liquid and went to inject it into Leon’s neck. Claire’s heart raced 

“Woah, woah woah, what is that?” 

Annette did not stop and simply injected the serum into him. 

“Liquid version, not as effective, but he should be up soon. Give him the pills as soon as he is- Hmm. You might have to lie, I don’t know if he’ll take them if he knows they’re from me” 

She finished injecting him and moved to head back to the other room yet again when the Lab began to shake. The lights flickered and dust came loose from the ceiling. Annette looked up, her mouth open in concern and curiosity as the room settled down. 

“I don’t have as much time as I had thought” She began to hurry, gathering her supplies, then rushing past Claire towards the exit. 

“Wait, where are you going? You haven’t finished explaining!” 

“I have to fix my husband’s mess.” She merely replied,

She continued, single mindedly heading to the exit, but paused, turning back to Claire. She pointed to the bottle and syringe in Claire’s lap. 

“Should we both survive, I will gladly explain. For now, get that to my daughter.” 

With that she turned sharply and left the way they had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who's not dead! It's Leon! yay!
> 
> thanks for reading, lemme know thoughts! <3


	7. Hard to Gain, Easy to Lose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Slightly shorter chapter, but I go back to school tomorrow so things will start to slow down a bit in terms of updates. I think there's about 4-5 ish more chapters, might go longer? haven't decided yet. Hopefully I can keep working on it regularly but the updates probably won't be once (or twice, lol) a day as they have been.  
> Hope ya'll are enjoying!

It wasn’t long after Annette left that Leon came too. Claire had been anxiously sipping her water when he started awake so violently that he had nearly fallen off the table. He sat up, a gutteral sound escaping him as he swung his head side to side to look around the room. He moved so fast Claire could barely see his face, just the flash of his too wide eyes. What the hell had Annette pumped into him, pure caffeine? She started thinking twice about taking the pills herself. 

“Woah, woah, easy tiger” Claire said, moving closer to reassure him that nothing was currently trying to kill him. 

“Wha-Whe-How?” He stammered, still frantically looking around the room. 

“Look, it’s a long story--” She paused, thinking for a moment about what she should tell him. If Annette had shot him, he probably wouldn’t be thrilled to find out she had been the one to patch his wounds. Or that she had just injected him with some untested super soldier drug “-- But we’re safe ish for now, I… Found something. To help you.” 

She held up the pills, and he stared at them warrily. 

“What are they?” 

“Uh… Painkillers. Not super strong ones, like they won’t knock you out, but should help take the edge off” 

He turned his head slightly, looking at her out of the side of his eyes. 

“Okay, what are they actually?” 

Man, she was a shitty lier. She sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping in defeat. 

“Okay, yeah. To be honest, I actually don’t know what they are, Annette--”  
“Annette?” He sounded alarmed, glancing around again like she might hop out from behind a corner and shoot him a second time, just for the hell of it. 

“Well, yeah, she said she would meet us and she did. Which is good because I couldn’t carry you by myself. She also rebandaged your shoulder.” 

“Wh- Why did she do that, she was the one who shot me.” 

Claire shrugged, annoyed. She again wondered just how the hell Ada had him so wrapped around her dainty fingers. What was she missing? Why couldn’t she get him to trust her like that? Well, trust may have been a strong word for it. It looked to Claire more like blind devotion. 

“I- Look I don’t know, probably because we’re helping her daughter, and maybe she felt bad that she shot you?” Claire didn’t believe the last part, Annette hadn’t seemed to feel much guilt over what she had done. But she needed him to trust her on this, because if he passed out again, she couldn’t get him out of here and the pills were the only real option. Provided they didn’t make things worse. 

Leon seemed hesitant still, but ultimately held his hand out to take the bottle from her. She felt relieved, if also somewhat nervous herself. She handed them to him, as well as the water bottle. 

“She said you should take two, or three if you felt you needed it.” 

He shook two out into his hand, eyeing them over still, 

“Probably just stick with two,” he muttered. 

Claire didn’t feel like telling him he already had some in his system because she really wasn’t sure how he would react to that. Or to the fact that she was technically also ordered to take them. And didn’t. 

He popped them in his mouth and gulped down the water. Claire didn’t even have to tell him to drink it all, he finished it greedily. He seemed to be just as thirsty as she had been. He finished the water and looked at the bottle a bit sadly that it was empty. He hadn’t keeled over so that was a good sign. 

 

“So, uh, how do you feel?” 

He shrugged, “I mean, I just took them, so I don’t really know. I’m kind of surprised at how I feel already, I don’t feel great by any means, but it’s not as bad as it was before” 

She nodded. Seeing him like that had been terrifying, she was absolutely sure he was going to die. She didn’t know what she would have done if he had. Her throat tightened just thinking about it. 

He moved to stand and did so steadily. Claire felt her body relax the tension she didn’t know it was building, relieved that he was up and moving again. Part of her had expected him to just collapse again. It was a blessing after the state he had been in not even 20 minutes ago. Hopefully this wonder drug would last a while. Annette had said to get him to a hospital before they ran out but she hadn’t said how long that would be. Maybe she didn’t know herself. 

“So, where are we?” He asked, significantly calmer than he had been just moments previously. He looked around, an eyebrow raised at the odd medical instruments strewn about the room. 

“The west wing, Annette gave me the anti-Virus, so we should be good to go.” Claire pointed to the door, “Whenever you’re ready, we should get back to Sherry and-- Ada.” 

Leon cocked his head, “No, we still have to get the virus sample and the other antiviral for Ada.” 

Claire pursed her lips, feeling the frustration take hold of her again. She did her best to keep her voice even. “I thought we had agreed she was using you.” 

Leon sighed, brows furrowing, “Yeah, we did, but we still don’t know why. I don’t think she’s telling the truth, but I believe her about being part of the FBI. Don’t you want Umbrella to be punished for what happened here? To stop it from happening somewhere else?” 

Claire gritted her teeth. “Of course, but I don’t think--” She sighed “--Look, I know Annette shot you and I know for a fact she wasn’t aiming for you. Why would she shoot at Ada if something wasn’t up?” 

Leon looked at her like she was an idiot, “Probably because she doesn’t want to go to jail?” 

Claire chewed her lip. Okay, she had to agree on that one, her logic there hadn’t been quite as sound as she had hoped. 

“Fine, your right, but I still think this is a bad idea. She’s using you, Leon, she’s been useing you since at least when I met her, probably before that.” She shook her head “Leon I don’t trust her. Something about her, about her story… something about it rubs me the wrong way.” 

Leon put his hands on her shoulders, gently pressure that felt as reassuring now as it did when she was in the midst of her panic attack. He looked intently in her eye. They were icy blue and surprisingly soft after everything they had been through. She felt herself blush slightly, and glanced away. She knew what he was trying to do, pull those big puppy dog eyes, play up that earnest, honest-to-God, compassion and longing to please, and sweet talk her into it. Probably pulled this all the time with other girls. He seemed the type to her and she should know; it was her type. 

“Look, Claire, I know you have your doubts about Ada, and honestly, I do too. I realized it when I talked to her on the cable car, part of her story doesn’t add up. But if she is telling the truth, then helping her could stop this, stop Umbrella. And after everything we’ve been through, don’t you want that?” 

Claire chewed her lip, still looking away. This was a lot more effective than she had expected. Jesus, he learn this trick from Ada? His hero act was surprisingly endearing. He was so earnest in how he believed what he was saying, and she really wanted to believe him too. But she held fast to her stance on the matter, saying nothing, giving nothing. She wasn’t going to look at those eyes, because she knew if she did she couldn’t say no. 

“How about this; we take them, but we don’t give them to her until we get out of here. Make her verify her story. If she can, we give it to her, she finishes her investigation, and Umbrella goes down. If she can’t, we destroy the samples, and… I’m honestly not sure what we do after that, but we’ll figure it out, okay?” 

She could feel his eyes on her, and she felt her reserve slipping. God, she couldn’t say no, not when he was pulling this. It always made her melt. Eventually, she gave in, staring back into his soft blue eyes. 

She sighed. 

“Fine. We’ll get them. But I carry them, got it? I don’t want you to go back on the deal.” 

He nodded, “That’s fine, and honestly probably a good idea. Do you know where she had them?” 

Claire thought a second, then pointed to the room Annette had come in and out of before. 

“My guess is in there, thats where she got the Antiviral.” 

“Thank you, Claire” He said, then walked towards the room. She followed him. 

\--------------------------------------------------------

Claire leaned against the door as Leon walked up to the strange device on the far side of the room. It looked vaguely like a futuristic refrigerator. She watched him look it over, trying to find a door or handle that would open it. He tried prying it open with his fingers, grunting with the effort, but soon gave up. , guess those pills didn’t turn him into superman. Shame. Claire snorted at the thought. After a few more seconds of staring at it, he turned back to Claire, 

“Did she say how to open it?” 

Claire stood up fully and walked forward. 

“No, probably because she didn’t intend for me to help myself to the bioweaponry.” 

She looked the machine over. There wasn’t even a control panel, no buttons or key codes to punch in. In place of that there was a sigil on the front of it with a divot where something was obviously meant to be placed. A sigil that looked oddly familiar. 

“Oh!” She realized where she had seen it

She pulled Sherry’s pendent out of her pocket and placed it in the machine. The doors slid open. She still could not get over this city and it’s odd fascination with puzzles. Everywhere they had gone, there was some weird contraption and obscurely themed treasure hunt blocking a door. How did anyone get any work done around here if they had to make shadow puppets on a wall before they could get to their office building? 

Regardless of the city’s odd planning, the doors of the machine slid open. She reached in, grabbing another bottle of Antiviral and sliding it into one of her pouches. Then she saw the vial simply labeled ‘G’. She hesitated, still unsure of this plan, unsure of Ada. If leon was right, then this could help other people, people who could end up like them, or worse, like the corpses still walking the streets as though they didn’t know they were meant to be dead. Or maybe they did, trapped in a body that they couldn’t control. Claire didn’t know which thought was worse. She swallowed her fear, her reservations, swallowed her uncertainty, and grabbed the vial. She rolled it between her fingers, horror and wonder overtaking her as she looked at the thing in her hand. Something so small had caused so much devastation. She hoped she was making the right call. 

“Well that was easy” Leon said as she put the vial with the others in her pack. 

Alarms began blaring. 

“Attention: Unauthorized removal of a Level 4 Virus detected. Facility lockdown initiated. Self destruct sequence will begin when lockdown is complete” 

“Well, fuck me then.” Leon said throwing his hands up in exacerbation. 

“Okay, you have to stop saying shit like that” 

“Noted” 

They didn’t say anything else, but started running for the exit. Claire felt uneasy, more so than before. She listened to the alarms blare as she ran, the announcements telling them to go to the evacuation area. She couldn’t shake the feeling that the world telling her she had just made a very unwise decision and she couldn’t help but agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not the best at writing romance, so I hope this is working? I'm also a lesbian so like, idk how hetero pairings flirt. Actually, I don't know how lesbians flirt either. I think mostly I just don't understand flirting. 
> 
> lol, As always, lemme know thoughts, I love writing this! <3


	8. Doubt is Infectious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was replaying and I just realized I mixed up where the operating/biotesting room was in relation to the Birkin’s office/the virus samples are, so uhhh, yeah We’ll just slide on past that and pretend the building is in a different order rip
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoy! Things are fireing up!!

Leon was surprised by how well he was functioning. He didn’t notice nearly as much pain as they ran, his assorted injuries protesting only slightly. He would have been happy about it if he hadn’t been absolutely terrified. Pain was supposed to tell you when you’re body was at its limit, to keep you from killing it further, and he was definitely pushing himself far past that. He didn’t want to think about what was going to happen when the pills wore off. 

They didn’t get far before running into Annette. They had just crossed a walkway in a large ovular room when she dashed through the door they were heading to. She limped slightly as she ran towards them. 

“What did you do?” She yelled over the alarms, 

Leon swallowed the bitter feeling in his mouth, 

“Annette, I can explain,” Claire started, running up to her with her hands up towards Annette 

She didn’t get to finish, however, as the ceiling behind them collapsed under the weight of something impossibly heavy.. 

Leon ducked and reached for Matilda, turning towards the sound. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Standing on a pile of rubble was a mass of flesh in a form that looked like a horrible subversion of what a human was. It was massive, one arm far larger than the other with boney claws protruding a fleshy nub. It’s head was elongated, a gaping hole of a mouth with rings of teeth, and empty, vortex like eyes. On the side with the smaller arm was a mass of hair and something that might have once been a human head swallowed up by pulsating, mutated musculature. Though it had grown and mutated significantly, he would have recognized it anywhere. 

“Eyeballs!” Claire yelled, 

Annette began running forward with her awkward gait, Her flare gun pointed towards the mass. 

“Get back! I’m ending this” 

She pulled the trigger and a glass vial shot out, covering the creature in a viscous fluid. It bellowed as the fluid sizzled on it’s flesh, before collapsing, twitching as the fluid took affect. As soon as it was down, Annette began walking towards it, reloading her gun. Her walk slowed as she raised her gun again, pointing it at the thing. 

“I’m sorry, William.” Her voice wavered. “I didn’t have a choice,” 

She fired again, the creature screaming out one last time before falling to the ground and going silent. Leon moved around Annette, Matilda trained on the thing while Claire checked on Annette. Now that he could see her properly, he noticed her white clothes where now streaked with blood and she was breathing heavily. He wondered if she had been like this earlier. He shook the thought away, he had other things to worry about, specifically the mass of mutated flesh on the floor before them. 

“Why did you call it William?” 

Annette didn’t seem to hear him, muttering under her breath as she stared at the mass at her feet. 

“It wasn’t-- this-- this is Umbrella’s fault, all of this” 

Leon scowled, turning to her as his anger, at her, at this whole situation boiled over, “So what, you’re going to just pretend you weren’t a part of this? Like you didn’t make this thing?” 

He gestured viciously towards it with his gun as he spoke, each movment more aggravated than the last. Everything he had been through, that Claire, and Sherry, and Ada had been through, finally caught up with him and he couldn’t keep it down anymore. He saw Claire start to raise her hands to try to calm him but he ignored her, beelining towards Annette, 

“This wasn’t what we intended, we made the G virus, but we never intended-- We didn’t mean for this to happen!” 

“Well it did! This is your fault, the whole city, all of this!” 

Claire darted between them, holding her hands up mostly at Leon which infuriated him even more. 

“Hey, we don’t have time to argue, we have to get Sherry and Ada and--” 

Annette’s eyes flashed at Leon, “You’re still working with her?” 

Leon moved closer, only stopping when he hit Claire’s hand, 

“Yeah, we are. And we have evidence that’s going to the FBI. You and Umbrella aren’t getting out of this without facing charges for what you did!” 

Annette turned with a scoff, “Is that what that bitch told you? That she’s FBI?” 

Annette shook her head, almost laughing, 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He growled, 

“She’s not FBI, She’s a mercenary. She wants that sample so she can sell it to the highest bidder.” 

Leon was taken aback. That had not been the answer he had expected. He paused, unsure what to say. As much as he wanted to trust Ada and as much as he vehemently did not trust Annette, it made too much sense. Leon realized right then just how badly he had fucked up. And Claire seemed to have made the same realization. He saw Claire tense, turning towards him sharply, eyes wide with horror and rage. 

“Leon, she has Sherry. She’s a living, breathing G Sample, we- we have to get back to them, now. What if she--” 

Annette’s eyes narrowed and her face twisted in rage as the words left Claire’s lips. 

“You left my daughter with her?!” She screamed, nearly leaping at him “You--” 

The clawed arm grabbed Annette before she could finish, crushing her midsection as she screamed in agony. The beast rose to its feet, lifting her up with it. Leon jumped back raising his gun to fire in hopes it would drop her. Claire was two steps ahead, her gun already raised as she took two shots at it, right in it’s bulbous eye. It screamed, shuddering with the hits. Instead of dropping her, it instead squeezed Annette tighter, her scream turning into a harsh gasp. Then it swung its arm back and threw her against the wall behind them. She landed with a sickening thud, crashing to the floor. Leon didn’t have time to see if she was breathing because it took a swing at him next. He dodged, rolling across the catwalk, which began descending into the pit below. He looked up to see Annette leaning heavily on the control panel. 

“What the hell!” Leon yelled, 

“You have to stop him!” She screamed back through strined breaths. 

Leon scowled again, yet another impossible fight he would have to figure out. He reloaded his gun before turning and leaping over the edge of the catwalk to prepare. 

\-----------------------------------------

Claire landed and rolled to the side, dodging as the creature landed heavily next to her. It made a bellowing noise as yet another clawed arm exploded from it’s back, the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bone curdling her blood. She swapped out her handgun for her grenade launcher, hoping some acid rounds would make quick work of it’s strange fleshy body. She needed to hurry this up. 

If Annette was telling the truth, which at this point seemed to be the most probable story, then Sherry was in danger. Ada didn’t need them to get a sample, she needed them to leave so she could take the one she already had. Claire felt her heart rate skyrocket at the thought, screaming out at nothing as she fired round after round at the thing in her way. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear Leon’s shotgun firing frantically too, desperately trying to slow this thing down. As angry as she was at how his trust in Ada had fucked them over, she was glad to have him. She didn’t trust Ada, or maybe even his judgment at the moment, but she trusted him and his intentions. Even if she was furious and terrified.

Because Ada taking Sherry? Not going to happen, Claire refused to let it happen. She was going to save Sherry, save her from being sold off as a weapon, save her from becoming the thing she was firing at right now. It was not going to happen. 

The creature grabbed ahold of a large conductor, tearing it from the ground and throwing it blindly towards her with a deep bellowing scream. Claire slid out of the way, narrowly dodging it. It crashed down behind her shaking the ground, skidding to a stop. She was going to finish this. Now. 

She kept firing and running, firing and running, eventually blasting and corroding away enough flesh to reveal a cluster of eyes and teeth. She narrowed her on eyes, aimed, and fired. The acid round hit the cluster and exploded, coating the eyes in acid. The eyes turning red and swollen, some bursting on their own, the others popping as Leon’s shotgun blasts hit. The creature screamed, staggering from the attack. It seemed to be the final blow and it collapsed, a sizzling, pusy heap that had once been a man. Claire wondered if it remembered that about itself. 

After everything that had happened, Claire didn’t trust it’s seeming death, firing a few more acid rounds for good measure. She heard it sizzle and pop as it ate away at the flesh, a sickening smell emanating from the corpse. 

Leon ran up to her, laying a hand on her shoulder. He opened his mouth to speak but she ducked away, pushing his hand off of her. She didn’t want to deal with him right now. She refused to look him in the eye. They needed to go. 

She didn’t even look at him as she moved, heading directly for the service lift. She heard Leon follow behind her and still didn’t look at him as he stepped onto the platform too. He hit the button and then began to speak again. 

“Claire, I am so sorry, I--” She held up a hand, shaking her head. 

“No, we’re not doing this right now. Once we have Sherry, then you can make up for it. But that isn’t going to happen, and I mean it, it’s not happening until she is with us again, and she is safe. Got it?” 

She meant it. If any harm came to her because of his shitty judgment, she-- Honestly she didn’t know what she would do but it would not be pleasant for him. Or Ada. 

Leon seemed to understand. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him swallow nervously and start reloading his gun, anything to avoid looking at her. 

The platform arrived at the top and Claire rushed over to Annette who was lying against the wall. She looked like death, her face a pale and clammy mask of what it once was, scrunched in a grimace of pain. Her breathing was ragged and irregular, one of her arms twisted at an odd angle. 

“Shit, Annette we can try to carry you--”

Annette shook her head, instead holding up her good arm, a pink ID chip between her fingers. 

“No, there’s no time. Take this, it will get you to the train. Get my daughter out of here, please. Please, just keep her safe.” 

Claire understood, gingerly taking the chip from Annette before placing it in the ID bracelet on her wrist. There wasn’t anything else they could do for her but this. 

“We will. Don’t worry.” 

Annette nodded, Crying out in pain as the building shook again. 

“Go!” she grunted, “You don’t have much time!” 

Claire stood, taking one last look at the woman who was, in part, responsible for this. Ultimately she was a victim of her and her husband's own hubris, endangering and destroying the lives of thousands of people, including her daughter. But Claire would save her daughter. She would keep that promise. She turned to Leon, grabbing his arm as she dashed towards the door. He didn’t resist as she pulled him behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope ya'll enjoyed, lemme know thoughts!! <3
> 
> ALSO: Was thinking and I might not end this with the game? I might carry on after the events of the game and explore that a little bit? Not sure if I want to but let me know what you guys think. I'm having way too much fun with this and I don't wanna end lol.


	9. Friends Don't Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shit, a showdown!

Leon grabbed Claire’s arm as they neared the main chasm. She turned, pulling it away sharply and breaking his grip. 

“What? We need to keep going” 

She was still pissed, and rightly so, he really had fucked up. He wanted to prove to her that he wasn’t a total idiot, thought and he had a plan. 

“Look, Ada doesn’t know that we know, right? If we can play along, we can get Sherry and us out of here.” 

“And how are we going to do that?” She scoffed, 

“Look, I- I’m honestly not sure what her plan will be, but I’ll confront her okay? Just, follow my lead okay? If all else fails, we can use the G Sample as a bargaining chip” 

Claire didn’t seem to like that idea 

“No, we’re not using that. She’s not getting her hands on it.” 

“Look Claire, we don’t have a lot of options, please just trust me. I do have some training in hostage situations, so please. Follow my lead and don’t do anything rash, okay?” 

Claire looked down, chewing on her lip as she thought. They didn’t have much time, but he hoped that he would trust her. He wasn’t sure how else to get Sherry away from Ada. Or what Ada would do if she was aware how much they knew.” 

“Fine” She bit out. “But if you fuck up again, I’m going to shoot her.” She started moving towards the door again. 

She didn’t say it but Leon knew what she had left unsaid. If this went wrong, he would have yet another injury to worry about. Claire seemed angry enough to do it. He quickly followed Claire, trying to form a full plan of how he was going to handle this. 

\------------------------------------------------------------

The ceiling of the chasm had started to collapse, rubble falling as they ran. Leon could see a figure in red running across the platform. Ada. She had Sherry’s arm draped over her shoulder and was hobbling across the bridge towards the elevator. Out of the corner of his eye, Leon saw Claire’s hand reach for her holster. He grabbed it before she could reach the gun, giving her a pleading look. She glared back, her eyes narrowed. She pulled her hand away from his, and away from the gun. He sighed in relief. This was going to be harder than he thought if Claire wasn’t going to cooperate. He walked slowly towards the elevator as Ada set Sherry down, propping her up against its walls. She pulled a device from one of her own holsters and pointed it at the scanner by the elevator. Leon wasn’t sure what she was doing, but the scanner soon beeped in affirmative, the elevator doors opening. He frowned. Of course she kept that thing for herself. He walked forward, gesturing for Claire to stay behind him. 

Ada glanced over her shoulder towards them, 

“I was starting to get worried, the alarms went off so I thought I should get the kid out of there before the whole place came down on us.” 

She was a good liar, but he already knew that. She seemed worried about them, and about Sherry. He wondered how much of it had been a trick, how much she had been playing him and how much was her actually caring. He hoped she cared at least a little, but the thought made this reveal all the more painful. 

“Did you get the samples?” 

“Yeah, Yeah we did.” 

She held a hand out, giving him a sweet look that he now read as smug. 

“Hand them over and we can go. I need to confirm that they’re in custody.” 

Before Leon could say anything, he heard a gun cocking behind him. Ada’s eyes widened, pulling her own gun and pointing it over his shoulder. He sighed, raising his hands slowly. That hadn’t taken long to go south. He glanced over his shoulder to see Claire with had her gun trained on Ada. He felt frustrated momentarily, but that was quickly pushed away by fear. Her eyes were dark, brows shadowing them harshly. Her face was nothing like the one he knew, soft and optimistic, hopeful. This face was angry, and bitter, and violent. He was afraid of this face. 

“Annette told us.” Claire growled. “She told us that you aren’t FBI” 

Ada sighed, before turning the gun towards Leon instead. 

“Leon, give me the samples, please” She said, her voice sickly sweet. 

He heard Claire open her pack, and pull something out. 

“You mean this?” He heard her yell. 

What the fuck was happening? This had very much not been the plan. He didn’t know what had gotten into Claire, but this was going to turn ugly very fast. He needed to calm them both down. 

“Hand it over or I shoot” Ada called back, her eyes narrowing. She glanced at Leon, 

“Oh Leon, why couldn’t you have just done what I asked” She pouted slightly, but didn’t lower her weapon. 

“Wait, Ada, maybe you can explain yourself-” He started,

“Explain?! She was going to take Sherry!” Claire yelled 

That caught Ada by surprise. She blinked in confusion, lowering her gun slightly. 

“What?” She asked. 

He didn’t know if this was an act again, but if it was it was incredibly convincing. Ada’s brows furrowed, and she looked legitimately confused by the comment. 

“You didn’t need us to get a sample, You had one!” Claire yelled. Leon could hear her voice quaver with anger and fear and exhaustion. “You just wanted to get rid of us so you could take her! I won’t let you! Lower the gun, now!” 

Ada was taken aback, her mouth open in shock. She didn’t seem to know what to say, her cool, calm demeanor now gone, revealing fear. She was not in control of this and she didn’t know what to do. Her face darkened again, pulling her gun back up towards Leon. 

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about, just hand over the samples and-”

A shot rang out and Ada stumbled back, her shoulder bleeding from a bullet wound. Leon turned to stop Claire before she shot again, but found Claire to be just as shocked as him. She hadn’t pulled the trigger. Behind her, however, was Annette. She leaned heavily on the railing, her gun still trained on Ada. 

“Don’t touch my daughter, you bitch.” She hissed, moving towards them slowly, but methodically. 

Leon felt a slender arm grab him by the shoulder and yank him back, as the cool tip of a gun shove into his throat. He raised his hands again, his heart rate speeding up. This had gone completely off the rails. Ada pulled him back, away from Claire and Annette. 

“I really hoped it wouldn’t end like this.” Ada whispered in his ear as she backed away. 

“Leon!” Claire cried, lowering her gun. 

They were on the other walkway now, walking back towards the cable car. Leon didn’t know what Ada’s plan was, and he had a feeling she didn’t either. Maybe he could use it. 

“Was I really just a pawn to you? Is that all this was?” 

“I was just doing my job” She said, loud enough for Claire and Annette to hear, but Leon knew it was directed at him. 

He saw Claire lower her gun and hold her hand over the edge. Leon could see a small vial gripped in her fingers. He felt Ada tense, the gun pushing further into his neck, and he winced at the pressure. 

“Claire, don’t!” He yelled, “Annette, lower your gun!” 

Annette cocked her head in confusion, but lowered her gun slightly. 

Leon turned, breaking free of Ada’s grasp. 

“I have a second sample on me” He bluffed. 

Ada’s eyes narrowed again. 

“Just hand it over Leon” She called. “I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“If you want it, you’ll have to shoot me.” 

Ada hesitated, her gun quivering as she thought. 

“I don’t think you can” He said, taking a step towards her. 

Ada raised her gun, aiming it directly between his eyes. He held his hand out to the side, not moving to do anything else, but to show her he wasn’t going to do anything. This was a very risky gamble, but he didn’t see another option. If all else failed, hopefully he could buy time for Claire and Sherry to get away. He saw her eyes glance behind him, at Claire and Annette, then back at Leon. Her face tightened as she weighed the odds. There really wasn’t anywhere for her to go, 

“If you lower your weapon, I’ll take you into custody. You’ll face charges, but you’ll get out of here alive.” 

Her expression intensified, her body preparing for the kickback of her gun. Leon thought he had perhaps made a bad bet, preparing for the bullet. He tensed, wincing away, but the shot never came. He opened his eyes and looked at her, her expression softening as she lowered her gun. 

“You don’t leave a girl much of a choice.” She muttered, dropped her gun to the ground with a clatter. 

Leon stepped towards her, reaching behind to the cuffs he had on his belt. He was relieved, momentary hope filling his chest. Maybe they could all make it out alive.

Yet again, the universe showed what it thought of wishful thinking. The walkway began to fall out from under them. Leon gasped, startled as he watched Ada stumble back onto nothing. He grabbed her hand as she fell, catching her by her wrist. he could feel her slipping as her hand wrapped around his in desperation. 

“Leon!” He heard Claire scream then quick footsteps on the metal walkway

“Stay back!” He yelled over his shoulder, “It’s going to collapse!” 

He turned back to Ada, 

“Hold on, I’ve got you.” He grunted, trying to pull her up. “I think I can-”

The walkway creaked and shuddered, the ground beneath him falling slightly. He didn’t have much time. 

She shook her head, her face resigned. “No, it’s not worth it.” 

“Shut up!” He grunted, trying to pull her up again. He could feel tears welling in his eyes. He felt stupid for it, tears for a woman who had used him, lied to him, manipulated him. But he couldn’t help it. He cared about her, even after everything she had done. He wanted, desperately to save her. To let her be redeemed. 

“Forget it,” 

“Don’t do this,” he choked out, his throat tight. He felt her relax her grip, slipping slightly. He tried to hold tight, but his own strength was giving out. 

She looked down below her into the dark, vast pit below, then back up at him. He felt like he saw regret in her eyes, but it could have just been wishful thinking. She was slipping more, he tried one last time to pull her up. The walkway gave more, and he lost the momentum. He heard Claire scream behind him. 

Below him, Ada shook her head again, a soft, resigned smile gracing her lips. 

“Take care of yourself, Leon” She whispered. 

“No-”

Her hand slipped from his, and she fell, plummeting into the emptiness below. He watched her ad long as he could, unable to look away, his hand still reaching out to grasp her. He could feel hot tears run down his face as he stared down into the hole where she had disappeared. He blinked, trying to stop the tears, but they didn’t stop, dripping down into the darkness after her. He didn’t stay like that long, not as long as he would have liked. He began standing, cautiously. He still looked down into the pit, a part of him hoping that just maybe she would survive, most of him knowing that was nearly impossible. He stood fully looking down one last time before turning. He sighed, wiping the tears before he ran towards Claire and Annette, who had moved Sherry onto the elevator. Claire met him on the balcony, embracing him tightly. 

“I’m so sorry.” She whispered into his chest. 

He hugged her back, welcoming the comfort. He lowered his head into her hair, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. It was shaky and he could still feel tears on his face as much as he wanted them to stop. His voice caught as he spoke 

“I guess we’re even.” 

More rubble hit the platform, and they broke away, neither wanting to. The dashed towards the elevator, Claire holding grabbing his hand. She held tightly, reassuring him that she was there. Just as they arrived at the elevator, Claire paused, turning back. 

“Wait” She said, looking down into her other hand. 

The G sample vial was still there, still terrifyingly real. She looked at it a second before chucking it as hard as she could, far over the railing. He saw it arc high then drop into the pit below, gone now and forever. 

Annette sighed, relieved. 

“No one gets that sample.” 

The elevator doors closed and they began their decent, Claire’s hand still in his and the ghost of Ada’s in his other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope ya'll enjoyed!
> 
> Also another quick note: 
> 
> I think what I'm going to do is end this story where the game does and start another one after. It will be a continueation of this, BUT It will diverge from Cannon a touch. I've tried my best to keep this story as close to cannon as possible (and also uh, fix some issues that capcom aparantly didn't care about?) but my idea for a post game story would break that a bit. I'm still going to keep it as aligned with cannon as possible. Although, to be fair, does Capcom even know whats cannon anymore?? Like? Is RE2 Remake even technically cannon?? Who even knows. I love this series but it's MGS levels of convoluted. Anyway, thats my current plan. Hope ya'll enjoy!! and lemme know thoughts. Thanks for reading!! More to come soon! <3


	10. Don't Forget I Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this one's a little shorter too, but I hope you enjoy it none the less. Get ready for more emotional turmoil!

Claire was trembling as the elevator went down. She had almost gotten Leon killed. She swallowed at the thought, glancing at him. He was solemnly looking out the window, and she could still see the glint of the tears he had tried his best to hide. The dirt and grime on his face had been smudged where he had wiped them away, but his eyes were tinged with red at the edges. She had really really fucked up. And after she had admonished Leon this entire time for trusting Ada, when it came down to it, she panicked, her hotheadedness taking over. She really didn’t know what she was thinking in the moment, maybe she hadn’t. She was just so afraid that she was going to hurt Sherry, or Leon, that she had just acted. She didn’t like Ada for what she had done, but she felt guilty. Ultimately, she’d gotten Ada killed. Why couldn’t she have just gone with what Leon had said? 

Annette turned towards them from where she was sitting on the ground with Sherry in her lap. The kid looked terrible, half conscious and whimpering as the infection spread across her face. 

“Do--” Annette paused, her face grimacing in pain “--Do you have the vaccine?” 

Claire nodded, finally slipping her fingers from Leons, who started a bit as she pulled them away. He seemed to blush slightly under the dirt, moving his hand up and grabbing the back of his neck as she pulled the supplies out of one of her pouches. She handed it over to Annette, who began the process of administering it to Sherry. 

The elevator was silent until Claire finally found the courage to say something. She turned back to Leon, who had resumed staring out the window at the collapsing building. She spoke softly, so as not to disturb Annette and Sherry, and also because what she wanted to say was a bit intimate. 

“Leon, I am so sorry. I-I don’t even know how to apologize for what I did, I just panicked and--”

He cut her off, 

“Claire, you don’t need to apologize. It was a bad situation. Even with training, sometimes cops screw up in that kind of scenario. I don’t blame you for what happened, not at all.” 

He smiled softly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He looked so tired. He turned his head again, the smile disappearing for a dark look. 

“And, I’m not off the hook either. We probably wouldn’t have been in that mess if I hadn’t trusted her.” 

Claire grabbed his arm, pulling him closer to her. He still looked down and away from her, ashamed of his willingness to trust and how much trouble it had caused them. Even if it had screwed them over a bit, Claire found it endearing. He was so willing to see the best in people. It was something she admired. 

“I’m just glad you and Sherry are okay.” He mumbled, still looking down 

Claire reached her hand up, cupping his cheek and forcing him to look at her. He didn’t resist, but still kept his eyes trained down. After a moment, they eventually greeted hers, unsure. 

“Hey. It’s okay. I-- I don’t think you were entirely wrong about Ada. I don’t think she was going to take Sherry, she seemed so… taken aback by what I said, I don’t think it had crossed her mind. and, she did end up bringing her back to us. She saved her, and you said it yourself, she saved you too.” 

He shook his head, breaking away from her hand

“Claire you were right, she used me. I--” He looked down, 

“I was just-- So desperate for someone, anyone to tell me what I should do. I didn’t know what to do, and she did. And I just… Listened, I didn’t even question it. It was such a stupid mistake, I--”

Claire could see his eyes glistening as he held back tears, his face grimacing as he tried desperately to appear strong. Claire didn’t try to touch him again, but looked at him intently. She could feel tears herself, everything that had happened starting to overwhelm her again. She almost laughed as she spoke, her voice tightening as she tried to keep it steady. 

“Leon, we’re just two idiots who got themselves into an impossible, absurd mess, and she seemed to know what the fuck was going on. I don’t blame you for trusting her, hell I really can’t at this point, after I royally fucked up. We… this whole… thing, the whole night, the city, all of it, has been so much to handle, I don’t think we can really blame ourselves for what's happened, any of it. We… We did what we had to to get out, and maybe we trusted or distrusted or overreacted, and... We fucked up, both of us, but we must have done something right, because we are so, so close to getting out-- Alive--” 

Her vision blurred and her voice broke as the tears started again. She didn’t see him, but she felt Leon grab her and pull her close for another embrace. He didn’t say anything but the hug told her what she needed to know. Tentatively at first, she reached her hands up and held him back, gripping the kevlar vest and burrowing her face into his chest as she cried. She could feel him trembling too, as he tried to keep it in. She was about to tell him to just let it out, but a soft voice came from behind. 

“Mom?” Sherry cried weakly. 

Leon and Claire let go, Claire quickly wiping away her tears and Leon clearing his throat. She gave him one last look at his face, wondering if he had always looks so sweet, before turning to Sherry, who was starting to sit up as the infection around her eye quickly healed. She looked up at Claire, desperate

“Claire, my mom needs help!”

She immediately saw why Sherry sounded distressed. Annette had collapsed, lying in a heap next to her. Sherry shook her shoulder, and Annette started, her breathing ragged and weak. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked to Sherry. 

Claire rushed over, Leon following behind. He helped Annette sit up, propping her against the wall of the elevator as Claire knelt next to Sherry. 

“She- She should be cured--” Annette coughed, then cried out in pain, gripping her side weakly. Claire could see her white shirt stained heavily with red that was spreading quickly. 

“Mommy?!”

Annette turned towards Claire and Sherry, A soft smile. 

“It’s-- It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.” her eyes turned to Claire “She’s going to be weak for a while, but-- she’s going to be fine.” 

Claire wrapped her arm around Sherry, Hugging her tightly.

“See? You’re going to be okay.” Claire’s voice sounding weak, even to her. 

Sherry’s wide eyes looked up at Claire, pleading. 

“What happened? Can you help her?” 

Claire, shook her head, unsure what to say 

“She was attacked… by--” Leon started

“Don’t worry, Sherry. It’s going to be okay…” Annette said weakly, her voice fading quickly. 

“Mommy…” Sherry’s voice broke, tears starting to run down her face. 

“I’m so sorry, Sherry… For everything.” 

The elevator landed, the doors opening as the voice announced that the self destruct sequence had started. They didn’t have much time. 

“We can’t leave her here!” Sherry cried, 

“I can carry her,” Leon said, reaching down to pick Annette up. 

“No! It’s not worth it, I’ll just slow you… She’s what matters now Please, just get her to safety.” Annettes voice was barley a raspy whisper. Claire saw Leon pause, unsure if he should pick her up or not. 

Annette lifted her hand weakly, placing it on Sherry’s face. Sherry grabbed it desperately, trembling with sobs. Annette looked her daughter in the eye, holding out for as long as she could.

“I love you, Sherry.” She whispered

Annette gasped again, her body tightening harshly before she breathed out one last time, her hand going limp in her daughters. 

“No!” Sherry cried with a trembling voice, burying her face in her mother’s body as it went limp. Annette’s eyes where glazed and unblinking as they stared out into nothing. 

Claire brushed Sherry’s shoulder gently to get her attention. They didn’t have much time. Claire could feel herself start crying again as she spoke urgently, 

“Sherry, we gotta say goodbye to your mom okay? We gotta go.” 

Sherry didn’t respond, still sobbing hard. 

“Sherry…” Leon started, standing up and preparing to carry her if he had too “I’m sorry, Sherry, we have to go.” 

Sherry’s sobs continued, but she leaned back. She looked at her mother one last time, brushing her face with her hand before gently placing a kiss on her cheek. 

“I love you, mommy.” She whispered, 

Sherry stood, still looking at her mom, 

Claire swallowed hard, trying her best to stay strong for Sherry. She could see Leon’s face looking similarly determined. 

“Come on” Claire said, looking at Leon. “Let’s go.” 

Leon nodded back, seeming to understand. He moved around Annette’s body towards them, kneeling down and wrapped his arms around Shery, gently lifting her. She didn’t resist, clinging to him while still looking at her mother’s body over his shoulder. Claire grabbed hold of his free hand and they started running through the quickly deteriorating building. As they ran, Claire heard Sherry speak up, her voice slightly stronger now, 

“Claire?” 

“Whats up?” She said through huffs of breath as they ran. 

“You were right about this jacket. I’m really lucky to have you two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annette Birkin is a good mom for once in her fucking life. 
> 
> Lemme know thoughts, I had fun writing this! Next chapter hopefully coming soon, depending on how long my homework takes, lol! <3


	11. Friends on the Other Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's action time! Wow!

Sherry’s weight wasn’t much of a bother. The pills he had taken had kicked into full gear, the pain almost entirely gone. He felt strong and ready for anything, like he could take down that trenchcoat asshole with one hand if he wanted. Logically, he knew that was a terrible idea, his body was still fucked even if it didn’t feel like it. In the back of his mind he wondered again what would happen when they wore off… 

The rounded a corner as something exploded, a zombie screaming and flailing in front of them as it’s flesh blackened, the sickening smell of burning hair making Leon’s nose crinkle with disgust. Claire deftly lead him around their fingers linked together. Any other time, he would have been giddy about it, childish even. But right now, she was leading him narrowly through the corridors, just missing the flames as they rose up. No one spoke, just moved and breathed hard, to tired or afraid or heartbroken, or maybe they just didn’t need speak at this point to know what needed to be done. 

Leon wasn’t sure exactly where they were going, but Claire seemed to be pretty certain, leading him down hallway after hallway, turn after turn. Eventually they ran into a locked door. Claire fiddled with it a moment, trying to force it open, but it held fast. 

“Shit” Claire huffed, giving the door a final kick. “We’ll have to find another way.” 

Leon could hear the clicks of the plant zombies from above, his heart speeding up. He set Sherry down, who stood steady, thank god. 

“Let me try,” He readied himself, before ramming the door with his uninjured shoulder. It didn’t budge, but he tried again, then again, just a touch of desperation starting to quicken his breathing, until Claire stopped him, Her fingers grabbing his arm. He turned to look at her, not saying anything as her eyes looked up at him, asking him to stop, afraid he would injure himself further. 

“I don’t think this is going to work, we…” She looked around, but there wasn’t anywhere else to go, and they were short on time. Sherry raised her hand, as though she was in class asking to be called on, 

“I think I can get around, there’s a tunnel over there” she said, pointing over the railing. 

Sure enough, Leon could see a small vent, large enough for a child to crawl through. A series of pipes lead over to it providing a precarious walkway. Leon frowned, unsure if they should let her. He looked at Claire who seemed to feel the same. But they were low on options, 

“Okay, Open the door as quick as you can okay?” Claire said. Leon could hear the anxiety in her voice, and put a hand on her shoulder. 

Sherry nodded, starting her journey as an Ivy zombie clicked then fell to the ground behind them. 

Leon cursed softly, readying Matilda. The thing rose up, twitching and shambling towards them just as they did before He heard Claire prepare an incindiary grenade round as he fired 4 quick shots at each of the bulbous growths. The creature stiffened, flopping back onto the ground and screaming. Behind him, he could hear the lock turning, 

“I’ve got it!” He heard Sherry call as she pushed the door open. 

He was about to turn when he heard her scream, 

“Sherry!” Claire yellped, grabbing her out of the way as the thing in the trenchcoat returned. Leon regretted making the joke earlier, as the universe reminded him of his terrible luck with words. 

“I’ll lead him over here!” he yelled, firing at the thing to get it’s attention, “Run for the door when it’s clear, I’ll join you! Don’t stop, just keep running!” 

Claire hesitated, looking terrified after what had happened during their last encounter. He knew what she was thinking. If it grabbed him again no amount of pills would save him. He was already in bad shape even if he couldn’t feel it. His body couldn’t take any more major hits. He would have to be quick and precise, something his trembling fingers would make significantly more difficult. 

“Go!” he screamed before he could think about facing this thing alone again. It began barreling towards him, leaving an opening at the door. 

Claire grabbed Sherry’s hand and bolted, looking back at him with pleading eyes. He nodded back, and then she was gone. 

Leon kept firing, realizing he was low on ammo. He would have to make this quicker than he had thought. He darted around, getting far too close for comfort. He watched for the telltale swing of the things arm as it prepared to hit him, but he was faster, dodging the fist as it came down, then darting past as the thing recovered. It might be powerful but it was damn slow. Leon smiled slightly, glad at least this bet had paid off. He dashed through the door, in hot pursuit of Claire and Sherry. 

Smoke was burning his eyes as he ran, unsure what direction to go as flames licked at his heels. He could hear the thing stomping after him, and he knew he didn’t have time to think about it. Eventually he came to a platform walkway, He spotted a slightly ajar door at the top of some stairs, sure that Claire and Sherry had gone that way. He moved towards it, but something fell to the ground, blocking his path. 

Before him stood the massive form of the creature, it’s trench coat burned to nearly nothing. The fire had damaged it, but it’s cells were rapidly growing, in a horrible, disgusting way that reminded him of what the G virus had done to Birkin, and had nearly done to Sherry. He was frozen in a moment of blinding panic, but it was enough. The thing grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him. Leon yelped, he couldn’t think through the fear, the only thought that came to his mind being the horrified realization 

_I’m going to die._

Leon groaned, struggling for his knife. He reached it, stabbing it into the things arm. It bellowed, but didn’t drop him, instead, chucking him over the railing. He landed hard on a some sort of platform, which started heading down. The wind was knocked out of him and he laid there a moment, trying to recover it. He didn’t have long, the platform shaking as something heavy landed. He looked up, the dizziness from before returning. The thing screamed as it started mutating faster, a clawed hand like Birkins forming out of it’s ruined arm. Lean pushed himself up in spite of the dizziness. His leg hurt even through the pills dampening of his pain, and he limped slightly as he moved out of it’s way. It barrelled towards him, crashing into the railing as Leon dodged. He fired a few shots, but it didn’t even seem to notice. He reached back to pull out his shotgun, only having about 4 shells left. He grimaced, before taking aim as the thing ran at him again. He dodged, aiming for the pulsating blob on it’s chest. That seemed to do something. The thing was thrown off, grazing his shoulder as it ran. Leon was knocked to the ground yet again, his shoulder blazing as he hissed from pain. Of course it had his his bad shoulder, just of course. He curled in on himself, eyes tights from the pain. Leon tried to stand, shaking. His vision blurred slightly as he stood. He didn’t know if the pills were wearing off or if he had just taken so much damage they couldn’t block it out anymore. 

Shit Shit Shit. What was he supposed to do? There was no way he could survive long enough to get out of here. He saw the thing preparing to attack again, and he knew he couldn't dodge it. He could barely stand. He tried to get up to his feet, but fell back, his arms drained. He took a shaky breath as he looked up, his vision wavering. He expecting to feel fear, but honestly, mostly he just felt relieved. At least if this thing was here, it meant Claire and Sherry could get out safely. He was thankful for that. He didn’t mind dying like this if they could be saved. He pictured Claire in his mind, her lovely, soft face, eyes strong and fierce. He let his own eyes slide closed, exhausted, not wanting the deformed best to be the last thing he saw. He wanted to think about her, alive and happy and somewhere far, far away from here. 

He heard someone call his name. He was puzzled, the voice hadn’t been Claire’s or Sherry’s, It sounded like… 

“Ada?!” He yelled, his eyes snapping open, sure he was hallucinating now. That was probably a bad sign, hearing voices of the dead that weren’t just shrieks and moans. But if it kept him conscious, he’d listen to the dead woman all day. 

“Leon!” He heard again, glanced up towards the voice, but didn’t see anyone. Instead, a box came crashing onto the platform, the lid clattering off to reveal a rocket launcher. His eyes flitted from it to the horrendous thing as it began barreling towards him again, seeming to know it had almost won. Leon launched himself at the box, grabbing the launcher and taking aim at the pulsating blob on the things chest as it got closer. 

He fired. 

He didn’t hear or see anything after the shock wave threw him back, just ringing and white light. He shook his head to clear it out, unsure if that would help. When it did clear, what he saw was horrifying. The upper half of the thing was gone, all that was left were legs and muscle and gore spilling out of it. It stood, swaying slightly before collapsing to the ground with a splattering thud. He breathed heavily, still laying there, unsure how the hell he had made it out of that. 

He stayed like that, thankful for even a small respite and frozen with shock as the platform landed, jolting him back into reality. He wasn’t out of here yet. He groaned as he pulled himself to his feet, his body protesting sharply. He didn’t have time to let himself think about the pain, only pulling himself up and off the platform. He limped his way through the off and through a door, pushing it open and spying train tracks. The ground rumbled, telling him a train was coming. He shuffled towards the tracks, preparing to jump on and praying to whatever god had let him live that Claire and Sherry where on it and not more rotting things he would have to shoot. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------

“Wait, No! We can’t leave him!” Sherry protested as Claire dragged her up the stairs. 

“He can take care of himself, I promise. We-- We’ll meet him outside, okay?” 

Claire’s voice wasn’t convincing. It quivered with fear as she remembered what that thing had done to him earlier. She was terrified, cold dread reaching down to her bones, that he wasn’t going to be there when they got out. Claire wasn’t sure if she could bare the weight of that thought. 

Sherry still looked back, obviously hoping to see him running after, but he wasn’t there. Claire swallowed, looking back to before pushing the door open and running through it, Sherry right at her side. 

The room opened up into a platform with a train car in the middle. 

“Oh thank god. We can take this.” Claire walked forwards, circling the train to see steps up to the entrance. 

“Sherry, over here!” She called,

Sherry came, still looking back at the door. 

“Let’s get you up in here okay? Then we’ll see about getting us out of here.” 

“We’ll wait for him, right?” Sherry looked up at her, pleading that after everything, everyone she had lost, she wouldn’t lose him too. 

“Yeah.” Claire lied, knowing there wasn’t time. “We’ll wait for him.” 

Sherry nodded, then climbed aboard the train. Claire followed, looking back at the door herself, hoping he would burst through with an impossibly bright smile and a terrible, hopeful one liner that would then almost get them killed. She shook her head. He wasn’t coming. 

The inside of the train was mechanical, a cockpit or engine room or whatever it was called for a train. Claire didn’t care. Point was, it was the controls. She looked around for a startup, spying a battery she was sure she was going to have to carry somewhere. She grabbed it before turning to Sherry. 

“Stay here, I’m going to get this ready, okay?” 

Sherry nodded and sat down, looking like she was ready to pass out on the spot. Claire didn’t blame her. 

Back in the main room, Claire saw yet another control room. She took the battery in there, popping it into place before she spied a minigun. She swallowed, disliking the omen it brought with it. She wasn’t sure what it would be, but after everything, she knew she would have to shoot down something with it. 

The controls beeped to life after a moment, and she spied the lever to start the descent down towards the exit. She gripped it, ready to pull it down, but she paused. She looked up to the door yet again, hoping desperately that he would be there. She didn’t know how long she waited, but eventually, when he never came through the door, she steeled herself and pulled the lever like she was ripping off a bandaid. She knew he wasn’t coming. 

It felt final, like she was burying him with everything else in this god forsaken city. She didn’t have time to mourn, only regretting one thing. Well that was a lie, there were several things she regretted, but this one was small and seemed like it could have been feasible. And hell, who knew, he had somehow survived all of this, maybe he would get out, maybe he would be waiting for them when they got down there. He didn’t seem the type to let a little death stop him. She let out a soft laugh, lowering her head. She would hold on to that, the idea that maybe, he would make it too. If he did make it out of here, by God, when she saw him she was going to--

She didn’t get to finish her fantasy as Birkin, mutated beyond even a semblance of humanity, crashed down on top of the train car. 

“Shit, won’t this fucker fucking die?” She muttered, already reaching for the minigun. 

She ran out onto the platform which had began moving down to the bottom of the chasm. She readied the Mini gun, aiming it up at Birkin who shrieked, looking around like a bird of prey, quick jarring movements as it looked for the next thing to destroy. 

“Hey!” She screamed, 

It’s head swiveled, dark, dead, empty eyes landing on her. It didn’t register her like anything sentient would, only seeing something to kill, to mame, to drag to hell with it. She pulled the gun up, hearing it’s motors whirr to life as she pulled the trigger. 

“Chew on this, motherfucker!” She screamed as the bullets began firing. 

Bullets hit it like a tidal wave, some ricocheting off the train car. She felt a rickochet graze her leg, burning as it passed. She hissed, ignoring the pain as she continued firing. It screamed, shaking the train car as it fell off, blood and gore following it. Claire couldn’t hear her, but she was sure Sherry was screaming inside. She couldn’t think about her right now, she had to kill this son of a bitch, right here, right now. For fucking real this time. 

It landed hard on the ground, scrambling to its feet. It leaped, blindingly fast. Claire couldn’t register where it had gone until it came down hard next to her, knocking her off her feet and throwing her against the train car. She felt her wrist pop and cried out as pain ate away at it. She shook as she regripped the gun, not bothering to stand, just aiming at it as it moved towards her. She let out a blood curdling, murderous scream of her own as she fired, bullets tearing away at the thing, flesh coming off of it faster than it could regenerate. It leapt up again, up onto the train. She barely had time to pull herself to her feet when it came down again, claws ready to eviscerate her. 

She dodged, having to drop the gun in lieu of speed. She would have to lead it away so she could get the gun back. 

She held her injured wrist to her chest, careful of jostling it. She was sure it was broken, but she would have to worry about that later. She ran to the other side of the train, and it followed, it’s speed still impossibly fast for something it’s size. She heard it shriek again, and she dodged in time, not even looking as she felt it land, just running back to the minigun. The ground shook as it leapt up. Off balance from pain, she hit the ground, jamming her wrist. The pain blinded her and she whimpered, pushing herself back up. She crawled towards the gun, grabbing it and turning onto her back. She could see it on the train, readying another leap. She pulled the trigger, preparing the gun to fire. It leapt above her and she could see it’s claws coming at her, ready to impale her, to end her. She screamed out again as the bullets started flying, the shriek of something that refused, absolutely, fucking, _refused_ , to die. Not like this. 

The bullets tore it to shreds, gore raining down on her. She didn’t let that stop her, holding down on the trigger until there was nothing left in the gun. The beast came down hard and limp, an arm knocking Claire to the ground as it landed to her side. 

She coughed, dazed for a moment before coming to her senses and surveying her body. She was going to be bruised to shit, but other than her wrist and the graze on her leg, she felt like she was fine. She pushed the thing off of her with her uninjured arm, giving it a swift, childish kick. 

“Fucking... bitch” she muttered, her head too foggy with pain to think of anything clever to say, but wanting to get her feelings across to the dead thing beside her. And this time, she let herself hope that maybe, finally, it would fucking stay dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left babes! It’s about half written rn, then I’ll start work on the follow up story. As always, lemme know thoughts!! <3
> 
> I really liked the seperate fights at the end of the game, so I decided to keep them. :)


	12. The Dreams We Don't Speak Of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I lied! There's going to be one mora chapter after this. It'll be a shorter one, more of an epilouge, but one more none the less.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

Claire stood, wobbling slightly, realizing the graze might be slightly more than a graze. The pain was a lot, threatening consume her vision. She held on though, knowing she needed to get on the train as she felt the platform begin to slow it’s decent. She shuffled her way over to the stairs. How the hell had Leon been able to deal with it, even before the pills? Damn, he was tough shit, she thought. 

She climbed up onto the train, pulling herself in as it started moving forward. She stood still a moment, catching her breathe as the pain washed over her. Out of the corner of her eye she spied a terrified Sherry cowering behind the machinery. 

“Hey! See! It’s all good!” She said, smiling as best she could through the pain and waving her hand, the broken arm still clutched tightly to her chest. . 

“Claire, you’re hurt!” Sherry whimpered, standing up and running over to Claire. The force of Sherry’s hug was nearly enough to knock Claire off her feet, but she steadied herself on the machinery behind her, before hugging Sherry back. 

“S’ nothin’” Claire said, feeling light headed. She was doing her best to keep up her tough persona for Sherry’s benefit, but she really just wanted to pass the fuck out on the train floor. 

“Is… Did Leon…?” Sherry didn’t seem to know how to finish her question. Claire figured it was because she already knew the answer. 

“I’m sorry… I… We had to go, I-- I’m sure he made it though, okay? We’ll find him, I promise” 

Sherry nodded, obviously trying to hold back yet more tears. 

Claire let herself think about Leon. She didn’t know if she believed herself. She kept washing back and forth between hoping he survived and being sure he had died at the hands of the thing that had hunted them the whole night. The idea of it, of him dying alone and in pain, hurt to think about, almost more than the physical pain. 

“Um, Claire?” 

“Yeah?” Claire, coming out of her thoughts and looking to Sherry. Sherry wrung the hem of her shirt nervously, eyes huge, exhausted and terrified. Claire hated seeing her like that. 

“Thank you… For being so nice to me. I’m sorry about all this, what my mom and dad did… And you and Leon got hurt… because of...” Sherry’s head fell as her words turned into a soft sob

Claire’s heart broke and she pulled the kid close, holding her tight. She wanted her to know she wasn’t alone and that she wouldn’t be ever again. 

“Sherry, none of this, absolutely none of it is your fault. You’re parents loved you, but they made mistakes okay? It had nothing to do with you. You don’t have to apologize.” 

Sherry nodded into Claire’s shoulder, still sobbing. Claire gently brushed her hands over Sherry’s hair, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. 

“Hey, so now that we’re getting out of here, what’s the first thing you want to do?” Claire asked, trying to distract Sherry, and herself too really, from everything that had happened and the ever present absence of Leon. 

Sherry thought a second, 

“I want to see where you live!” She exclaimed, a small smile, 

Claire laughed, 

“I think we’re going to need to get cleaned up first, we’re super gross.” 

Sherry giggled, “Yeah, you smell really bad.” 

Claire giggled back, pretending to smell herself, when the door of the train opened. 

Claire pulled Sherry behind her, reading her handgun for whatever undead thing was about to attack them. Her eyes narrowed, until she saw who dashed into the room. 

“Leon!” she cried, literally as tears started to blur her vision. She ran at him, nearly tackling him in a hug and pressing him up against the wall. 

He cried out in pain, but Claire didn’t let it stop her as she grabbed his face and pulled him into hers. She kissed him. He tasted like sewers and dead things and she didn’t care. He was warm and soft and real and it was so, so nice. She could feel him tense, but she didn’t let go. Maybe she had read this wrong, mind fogged with pain and relief and sorrow and fear everything she had felt the entire night. She was just happy he was alive and here with her. Where he should be. 

Leon didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands at first, but eventually he relaxed and kissed her back, wrapping his hand around her waist and pulling himself closer to her. The kiss deepend, becoming hungry. Claire wasn’t sure who had instigated it, but she wanted it. She felt his hands wandering places they perhaps shouldn’t, but god, it felt so nice. She was getting a little frisky herself, rubbing up against him. After everything that had happened, Claire was ready to not think, just feel something that wasn’t pain or fear or-- 

“... Are you guys like, boyfriend and girlfriend?” 

Claire’s eyes flew open remembering their twelve year old audience. Leon’s did the same, his face flushing deeply under the layers of grime. 

They broke away from the kiss, but didn’t let go of each other. Claire didn’t want to do that just yet. 

“Uh… Well actually we just met… Last night?” Leon said, sounding unsure if all of that could possibly have happened in the span of 8 hours, if that. Claire had absolutely no idea what time it was. She looked at Sherry, embarrassed a bit at her lack of self control, before looking back at Leon and responding 

“Was one hell of a first date, though.” 

Leon laughed with relief, 

 

“Yeah, that was… Uh… That sure was something.” He grabbed the back of his neck again, his other arm still wrapped around her waist. As he swallowed, she could see his adam's apple bob, and she really wanted to kiss it. 

She looked down at his shoulder instead, realizing that the bandages that Annette had replaced where now coated in blood. She broke away from him, eying him over before realizing he looked significantly worse than she had last seen him. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t been good. He looked on death's doorstep and she was amazed he was still standing. She winced, seeing him like this was horrifying. She wanted nothing more than to make him lay down and let her hold him, soothe his pain and comfort him. Well, hell, she thought, they were on a train out of here, she was of half a mind to just do it. 

The train shook as something latched on to it. 

“Shit, what was that?” She cursed, looking up at the roof of the train. 

“Sherry, Claire, stay here, I’m gonna go check it out” Leon said, his words slightly slurred, but he was already starting for the back of the train. Claire saw his limp as he moved, it was worse than hers and his back was stiff from trying to hold himself upright. The pills must be wearing off. Claire’s breath hitched. If he went, he wouldn’t come back. 

She grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back. 

“No, you stay here, I’ll go.” She said, planting a quick kiss on his cheek. 

His brow furrowed at that, and she briefly wondered if she messed up. She could deal with that later. 

“Claire, I don’t--” 

The train shook again and something roared from behind. 

Claire turned, towards the door, squeezing Leon’s hand reassuringly. She let go, running out the door before he could say anything. She could handle this. She wasn’t going to die tonight. 

\--------------------------------------------------

Leon watched her go, his head fogging horribly as he felt the pills wear off. He needed to be functional, and maybe this was a bad plan, but whatever was back there, he wasn’t letting Claire face it alone. His fingers fished through his pockets numbly before he found what he was looking for, a small, plastic bottle. He pulled it out, looking down at the contents. There were a few more pills in there. He probably shouldn’t take too many. Annette had said three right? He wasn’t a doctor but he‘d only taken two earlier, what was few more if it kept them alive? He dumped them in his hand, popping them in his mouth and dry swallowing. Nothing happened but he didn’t have time for his head to clear and the pain to fade, he needed to get to her now. 

He turned to Sherry, 

“Wait here, I’m going to go help her.” 

Sherry’s eyes widened, reaching out to grab his hand, 

“No, wait!” She said, but he was through the door. He heard small footsteps following, mild frustration. Man, why didn’t anyone ever listen to him? He didn’t have time to worry about it, slowing slightly until she was next to him and grabbing her hand before carrying on, preferring her to be next to him if she had to come at all. 

They got to the back of the train, And leon pulled the hatch to open the door 

What awaited them was eldritch horror. He couldn’t even comprehend what he was looking at. He saw tentacles, eyes, and teeth in rows upon rows, but couldn’t understand how they connected, weaving and interlocking. He saw dripping, visceral flesh pulsating and swirling around them. The top of the train was gone, and it was just flesh and blood and incomprehensible nightmares. For a moment he wondered if they had died in that city and this was the chariot dragging them into Hell, the abomination before him some demon with an unspeakable name, here to torture them for eternity. He couldn’t breath looking at it. They were never leaving the city alive. 

Standing tall before it all was Claire, her ponytail whipping in the wind as the train carried on. She fired a grenade at it, screaming as the shots landed in the things huge, impossible eye. He could see one of her arms was limp and bent at an odd angle at her side. Anguish and horror flared up inside of him. If he didn’t do something, he would watch her die, slipping from his grasp just as Ada had. 

“Claire!” He yelled, her name strangled with the unadulterated horror of the mass before him. 

She turned, looking back at him, her face a mask of death, whether her own or the thing before her he couldn’t tell. It was paralyzing. 

“I’m going to try to remove the car! Get back over here!” 

She was distracted by his words when a tentacle grabbed her. She screamed as it crushed her injured arm against her side. Leon pulled his gun, shooting the thing in its eyes ringed with teeth. Why did it’s eye have teeth? It made a sound he couldn’t describe, but he felt it down to his soul, reverberating through him, making him feel every cell of his body as it screamed in mind numbing fear and agony. 

It dropped Claire, who landed hard. She quickly got up, running in whatever direction she pointed in first. 

He didn’t have time to look at her, instead fiddling with the train car. He found a lever and pulled, feeling the hinges become loose. He heard Claire fire again, shooting at the thing desperately. It gave him the adrenaline to pull it hard enough, the train car breaking free, soon putting too much distance between them. 

“Claire! Now!” He yelled, 

She scrambled towards him, her hand just within reach when the viscera grabbed her, pulling her back towards it’s maw. Suddenly he saw Ada, slipping from his grasp down into the chasm, saw her body lying broken and lifeless in rubble. He saw Claire’s the same. He screamed, a horrible, broken, agonized scream as he fired at the thing. He saw Claire’s broken arm reach to grab anything it possibly could, and gripping a pole. The pole broke away as the mass drew her towards it, but she screamed out too, and jammed the pole into its eye, gore spilling out around her, covering her. 

It made that sound again as it dropped her, vibrations of it shaking the air out of his lungs. The train car now farther away, falling behind from the weight. Claire stood, lurching and scrambling fast towards Leon. She leapt. Leon reached out, grabbing her and pulling her in as the train car behind lost momentum, being consumed by the flames of the building self destructing. He heard it make that noise again, felt it rip through every fiber of his being. He couldn’t describe that sound, but he would never forget it. 

He held Claire in his arms, unsure at first if she was breathing. He trembled, unable and unwilling to stop the sobs that wracked his body. He felt Sherry behind him, her grip on his shoulder tight and terrified. He just sat there, stroking Claire’s face until finally she stirred, sitting up. Her eyes wide and wild as she looked at him, not daring to ask the question both of them wanted answered. She swallowed, than latched onto him, pulling him down as she embraced him. She sobbed into him, still unsure if it was really dead, not willing to believe it, but desperate enough to try. Sherry joined them, collapsing on top of them as the weight of it all crushed them. She was crying too as they just laid there, not even sure how long, just, crying in horror and pain and relief because, maybe, just maybe, it was finally over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn that was intense!! The epilouge is written, just needs editing so it will probably go up tomorrow! I've already got my next 2 fics started, both RE themed, one a follow up ot this, the other a RE Vendetta thing. 
> 
> Hope ya'll enjoyed, Lemme know thoughts! <3 <3 <3


	13. What We Find in the Rubble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally come to a conclusion. <3

Leon jolted awake as the train car came to a stop. He blinked blearily up at the ceiling of the train. He felt odd, but he assumed that was just the pills from earlier doing their best to hide the insane amount of damage that had been done to his body. In books he had read, people would wake up and not remember not remember what had happened to them a blissful relief before it came crashing back on them like an earthquake, shaking them to dust. But no, he very much did remember. Part of him wished he didn’t, but it felt like pieces of the night had been branded into him, leaving intangible scars right next to the physical ones. He didn’t know how long he had been asleep or even when he had passed out. He supposed that after everything they had been through they deserved to rest or maybe they’re bodies had just finally given out. 

As he more fully came too, he glanced around for his companions. Sherry wasn’t hard to find. The weight on his chest told him where she was, sleeping in a heap on top of him. He chuckled softly when he saw her, limp like a ragdoll but breathing steadily. He felt his body out, trying to figure out how much damage there was, really. The pills must still be in effect because he didn’t feel too bad, just very, very tired. He did notice his arm was numb and he looked to his side, where Claire was laying on it. She looked peaceful and small, her face finally free of the fear and worry he was used to seeing. She looked beautiful. He wanted to keep staring at her, to let her rest. He shut his eyes a moment and sighed, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. 

Instead, he knew they needed to get up. He didn’t know where they were and likely things were still bad wherever it was, thinking back to the gas station where he had met Claire. All three of them needed to get to a hospital, soon. He could see Claire’s arm was bad, mangled in a stomach churning way. It had to be fractured in at least two places, if not more. He himself was a mess, and he had no idea where Sherry was in terms of health. What do you have to do to recover from almost being turned into a bioweapon? 

As gently as he could, so as not to disturb Sherry, he nudged Claire awake. Her eyes opened slowly, glazed from exhaustion and pain. His brow wrinkled in concern, worried she might have a head injury he wasn’t aware of, but soon her eyes cleared up, her face grimacing slightly as she moved. She sat up, blinking and looking around. Leon wanted to sit up too, but was weary to move Sherry. 

“Hey” He said with a smile, his voice hoarse. 

She smiled back through the pain, looking down at him softly. The light through the window of the train hit her hair, showing deep red strands in the auburn. Maybe it was the adrenaline or the trauma of what had happened, but he took it back, she didn’t look beautiful; even covered in gore, she looked angelic. 

“Hey”

Her voice was as rough as his, and he wished he had something to give her to drink. The water Annette had given them wasn’t enough, and they hadn’t had any to give to Sherry. 

Claire took in a long breath, chewing on her lips. 

“So… What do we do now?” 

“I have absolutely no idea.” 

She nodded, sniffling a bit. He grabbed her hand, carefully squeezing it. 

“We got out though. We’re alive. We’ll figure it out.” He smiled up at her. 

She laughed, wiping her face. 

“Yeah, I guess we will.” 

They just sat like that for a while, not moving, not thinking about what was going to happen just letting themselves exist and process. Leon had actually started to fall back asleep again when Sherry stirred on his chest, bringing him back to wakefulness. 

As she woke up, he himself finally sat up, gently moving her off of him. He felt sore, and he knew he would feel worse soon, but he hoped they could at least find a ride to the next town over before that. He took a deep sigh, before moving to get a better look at Claire and see how bad off she really was. He could see her arm of course, but there was a wound on her leg that hadn’t been there before, having torn through the denim of her pants. It looked like a rather deep graze from a bullet. Other than that, he couldn’t see anything, but there could be internal damage too. 

“What are you looking at?” She asked, wryly. 

“I was trying to see how injured you were. .” he replied, returning the look. “And maybe checking you out, just a bit”

“You’re both really banged up” Sherry piped up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. 

Leon and Claire both laughed at that. 

“Yeah. Yeah, we most definitely are.” Claire said. 

Leon sat up fully, beginning to stand. He brushed himself off, before offering a hand to Sherry, who took it and stood. She was much stronger than she had been, standing fairly easily. That was good. Hopefully the weakness from the G-virus was mostly gone now that she had rested. He then turned to Claire, offering a hand to her as well. She gripped it, and didn’t stand quite as smoothly as Sherry had. She grunted as she stood, her leg obviously bothering her. He used his other hand to steady her, then looked around for something to take the pressure off her arm. There wasn’t anything to splint it with, but he did see some canvas he could use to make a sling for her. He probably needed one too, but her arm was worse off than his at this point. He went to work on it, then helped her lift it over her head. She winced as they set her arm inside, but seemed to be okay. He fiddled with it a bit, not looking her in the eye for a moment, weighing what he wanted to do. 

Cautiously, he lifted his hand to her face, brushing her cheek with his thumb before her kissed her again, as gently as he could so as not to cause her pain. She reciprocated, just as gently, as though she was afraid he would disappear under her touch. They broke away, but he kept his forehead planted on hers, getting lost in her deep blue eyes and wondering how the hell he was lucky enough to have found her, in literal hell of all places. 

“I think you guys have to be boyfriend and girlfriend now.” Sherry said. 

Leon lowered his head, smiling and letting out a huff of breath through his nose, Claire letting out a tiny laugh in response. 

He moved away from Claire, his hand sliding down to find her fingers, his intertwining them. He reached his other out to Sherry, who quickly grasped it. 

“Let’s go see what’s out there.” he said, leading them to the exit. 

They stepped out, a clear sky and the light of golden hour welcoming them. He squinted at first at the light, but ultimately closed his eyes to welcome the warmth of the sun on his face. It was heavenly compared to the cold rain he had faced not even a night before. 

He helped them down onto the ground, spying a road in the distance. He nodded to it, and Claire nodded back. 

“Alright.” She said. He could see her steeling herself for whatever it was they would find as they carried on. The sun was up, but they didn’t know for sure if the horror was over yet. He felt her grip on his hand tighten and he squeezed back reassuringly. He was here. They were here. They had made it. 

“Let’s go”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHhhhh, It's over guys! I did it!! I'm so glad you all enjoyed!! I am planning a fic after this one to follow up after they escape.I'm taking a break to write a Cheon fic that takes place after Vendetta, but I’m working out the plot kinks rn for the follow up to FFiDP. It’s going to diverge from cannon a bit because I want to include characters who probably shouldn't be there/doesn't make sense for them to be there in cannon. It'll still be Cleon based, tho so don't worry! Um probably neither will get to sexy because idk how to write a sex scene that involves a penis. Subscribe to me if ya’ll wanna read it, <3 and as always, lemme know thoughts!!
> 
> Also my Tumblr is thisisaplaceforrandomthings, follow me I post RE memes and I'll probs post when I get more stuff up <3 <3 
> 
> As always lemme know thoughts, I loved writing this and I can't wait to start the follow up!! Thank you so much for reading and enjoying!!!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I'm planning to keep working on this as a fun side project outside of school. 
> 
> also I'm torn between marking this major character death, but it would be just for Annette, everyone else is good. (er, well, I mean... relativley)


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